Similar to 2009 Ashes,Sophia Gardens in Cardiff was the venue for first Ashes Test and England,after winning the toss chose to bat first.With Harris announcing his retirement just few days before the first Test,Australia were left without one of their previous Ashes hero and a senior bowler,but,still had a quite formidable pace attack in the form of Johnson,Starc and Hazlewood.In the very second over of the English innings,Australia drew first blood as Lyth was caught by Warner off Hazlewood at gully.The break generally brings wickets and in this case,it was drinks break that brought the downfall of Cook.Bell followed Cook just for 1 and England were in a spot of bother at 43/3.Ballance,who was terribly out of form was joined by in-form Joe Root and big partnership was the need of the hour as far as England were concerned.Ballance,at one end was intimidated by some short ball stuff by Johnson & Co. while Root at other end was playing aggressively.Root brought up his fifty in just 56 balls and his innings brought some momentum into the innings especially after three quick wickets.By the time it was Tea on Day 1,Root had marched his way to 93 and Ballance was there,59 not out and England were in a healthy position at 190/3.Just after the Tea break,lapse in concentration lead to the downfall of Ballance and he was out,trapped in front of the wickets for fighting 61.Root brought up his 7th Test hundred with a fine cover drive and Haddin had all the reasons to blame himself as he had dropped Root when he was on no score.
Root made full utilization of the life he got and along with Stokes,who came in at No.6,played aggressive brand of cricket which left everyone in a state of shock.Stokes raced to his fifty as well which included six fours and two towering sixes and just when it looked like Root and Stokes were taking the game away from Australia,Starc got rid of Root for 134,caught at first slip by Watson.Stokes was dismissed soon after for 52,cleaned up by Starc.
Wicket-Keeper batsman Buttler was out at the fag end of the day for entertaining 27 and though England scored 343 runs,Australia chipped in with 7 wickets to complete an absorbing day of Test Cricket.Root's magnificent 134 was clearly the highlight of the day for England and Johnson's inability to take even a single wicket on slow pitch was definitely a worrying sign as far as Australia were concerned.
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| Joe Root obliges the crowd after scoring the Century |
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| Mitchell Starc reacting after dismissing Ben Stokes |
Moeen Ali justified his spot in the side with a solid knock of 77 in the morning session on Day 2 and along with the tail batted brilliantly to take the English tally beyond 400.England's innings finally folded for 430 with last 87 runs coming just off 14 overs.
Chris Rogers and David Warner opened the innings for Australia and put on a 50-run stand.But,soon after their 50-run partnership,Warner departed for 17 after playing an uncharacteristic Warner innings.Smith,in his new role,coming at No.3, got off the blocks quickly and built a good,steady partnership along with Rogers.In the meanwhile,Rogers got to his half-century ,his seventh consecutive Test fifty.Smith,who was trying to break free and attack Moeen Ali in particular,perished,thanks to a flighted delivery from Ali and excellent field setting from Cook,caught at short mid-on for 33.Australia went into Tea at 145/2,with Rogers unbeaten on 74.Following the Tea interval,Broad and Wood put sustained pressure on Rogers and that paid off as Rogers,nearing his hundred,edged one off Wood and Buttler did the rest.Rogers was dismissed for 95 and Australia were reduced to 180/3.Aussie captain was the next man to go,falling to Moeen Ali,who grabbed a good return catch and Clarke was on his way for 38.Watson,playing as an all-rounder,came in at No.6 and joined Voges in the middle.It was important for Watson to make some significant contribution as his spot was under threat from Mitchell Marsh,another all-rounder,eleven years younger to him and most importantly,in red-hot form,especially after scoring two hundreds in as many warm-up matches.Watson,in company of Voges played well and put up a 50-run partnership before Voges became third batsman after Smith and Clarke to get out in their 30's.Voges was dismissed for 31 in the dying minutes of the day and at Stumps on Day 2,Australia were 264/5,still trailing England by 166 runs.
England on Day 3 wasted no time in dismissing the Australian tail as last five wickets fell just for 44 runs and Australia were bundled out for 308 in their first innings,handing England a lead of 122 runs.Wickets were shared with Anderson getting three and Broad,Wood and Ali picking two wickets a piece.
England,similar to their first innings,found themselves in a bit of bother at the start of second innings as well as they were reduced to 22/2 with both Cook and Ballance back in the hut.Bell,in desperate need of some runs joined Lyth in the middle and a steady partnership was the need of the hour for England.Lyth and Bell shared a 51-run stand before Clarke took a spectacular diving catch to his left at the first slip to dismiss opener Adam Lyth for 37.With England 73/3 and leading by 195 runs,the in-form batsman Joe Root joined Ian Bell and the duo played aggressive brand of cricket to put England in a commanding position at Tea on Day 3.Bell,under pressure to score runs,completed his half-century before Tea and he was the most relieved person going into the Tea break.After Tea,Bell who played so well for his 60 runs,was castled by Johnson,his first wicket of the match and England were four down for 170.Root,who raced to his fifty with eight cracking boundaries,slowed down fractionally after the Tea interval.Hazlewood,with his first delivery of the new spell bowled Root for 60 and Australia's plan to attack the stumps paid off with ball staying a bit low on a slow pitch.England continued to play their newly adopted aggressive brand of cricket as Australia ticked away with three quick wickets.Buttler,Stokes and Broad were dismissed in three consecutive overs as England slipped to 245/8,leading by 367 runs.Mark Wood,the No.10 batsman,played some fancy strokes and pushed the England's lead beyond 400.England were finally bowled out for 289 at Stumps on Day 3.England set Australia, a target of 412 runs and with two full days to go,everyone was expecting a cracker of a contest on Day 4 and Day 5.
Australia,in pursuit of a record Ashes run chase,needed someone to bat big and bat long and Chris Rogers,in form of his lifetime,was the ideal candidate to do so.England though,had some other ideas and Bell took a low dying catch to sent Rogers on his way just for 10.Warner,who missed out in first innings,scored a counter-attacking half century and along with Smith gave some impetus to the Australian innings.But,just at the the stroke of lunch,England got a lucky break,an important one as Moeen Ali trapped Warner LBW for 52.Australia were 97/2 at lunch on Day 4.Post-lunch,there was a procession of wickets as Smith,Clarke and Voges all got out to loose strokes and Australia found themselves in a state of complete disarray at 106/5.From then on,Australia never recovered and Haddin was the next one to bite the dust,thanks to Cook,who took a brilliant catch and Australia were in deep,deep trouble at 122/6.
Watson,trying to save his place in the side,offered some resistance,but,his effort was ended by a delivery from Wood that thrashed into his pads and he was out LBW for 29th time in his Test career.Australia were seven down for 151 and Starc joined Johnson.The duo of left-arm quickies frustrated England with a 72-run partnership and Johnson scored a gritty half-century.Starc's resistance was ended by Root,first dropped by Cook and then caught by Lyth for 17.Johnson,after hitting some hefty blows off Root,departed for 77 and Hazlewood was the last man to go,which gave England, a thumping 169-run victory over Australia.
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| Haddin had a forgettable outing |
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| England players jubilate after their victory |
SCORES:
ENGLAND 430 & 289
AUSTRALIA 308 & 242
ENGLAND won by 169 runs.
ENGLAND lead THE ASHES 1-0.
Player of the Match: JOE ROOT.
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