England v Australia 5th Ashes Test day 1 review: Batsmen make it Australia’s day

England v Australia 5^th Ashes Test day 1 review: Batsmen make it Australia’s day: For all intents and purposes, the fifth Ashes Test was essentially a dead rubber. England had already regained the Ashes and were now playing for a resounding 4-1 win. On the other hand, a down and defeated Australian side was playing for pride as they geared up to bid goodbye to one of their beloved captains – Michael Clarke. No England side has ever won four Tests in a home Ashes series but this was as good a chance as any to rewrite history.

Day one though belonged totally to the visitors. The batsmen showed application uncharacteristic of them, given how the tour has gone; to ensure Australia were ahead on a day which witnessed old-fashioned Test cricket. The Aussies were comfortably placed at 287/3 in the 80^th over when bad light stopped play.

Earlier in the day England skipper Alastair Cook won the toss and chose to field first on a day when large protests against the “Big Threes” takeover of the ICC were witnessed outside the Kia Oval. Australia made two changes as Peter Siddle replaced Josh Hazlewood, while Mitchell Marsh came in for brother Shaun.

Australia could score only 14 runs in the first 11 overs, but most importantly they did not lose a wicket, showing the right amount of application and resolution to frustrate the England bowlers. The first session taught us what old-fashioned Test cricket strategy of treating the ball on merit could do.

Warner and Chris Rogers dug in and played steadily ensuring the visitors went into Lunch without losing a wicket.Chris Rogers departed after a fine innings of 43 as he nicked one-off Mark Wood. The openers had by then put up a 110-run stand.Warner displayed full range of his shots on both sides of the wicket to keep the scorecard ticking. He has been hammering fifties at will but not been able to capitalize on his starts. This time he fell 15 runs short of a well deserved hundred as Moeen Ali gave England the much-needed breakthrough.

Warner is one batsman who has given the impression of gaining valuable experience in English conditions and improving gradually on the tour. Michael Clarke, who walked out in his final Test received a Guard of Honour from the England players and was looking to rebuild for the visitors along with Steven Smith. This was a surprisingly pleasing situation for Clarke who otherwise had to come with the task of resurrecting the side from precarious positions. By tea, Australia were 184 for 2 with Clarke, playing the last of his 115 Tests, unbeaten on 14. Australia scored 102 runs in the middle session losing both the openers.

But Pup couldn’t do much here. He got the faintest of edges to Ben Stokes that brought about his downfall. However, Clarke was not sure whether he had nicked it and asked for a review following a brief discussion with his partner. On replay, there was nothing on the Hot Spot but Real Time Snicko showed a spike mark indicating that it was a faint edge.

A quick heavy shower stopped play for about 15-20 mins when Australia were 255/3 with Smith batting on 71 and Voges on 27. Soon after play started Voges accelerated while Smith took a backseat in scoring. England looked eager to have some late scalps but both of them played with a touch of calmness to make sure that Australia doesn’t lose anymore wickets in the day. Steve Smith spoke to the umpires about the diminishing light and they decided to call it off for the day with the tourists on 287/3.

The Australian batsmen gave a good account of themselves to take them to a position of strength. Earlier, it was Chris Rogers and David Warner, who gave the visitors a superb start by stringing together a century stand.

After winning the toss and putting the opposition in, the hosts would be a touch disappointed with their performance. It did a bit off the seam for most of the day. However, England’s man of the moment from the Trent Bridge Test, Broad, perhaps didn’t bowl it full enough. It also has to be said that when the seamers produced the edge, it didn’t carry to the slip cordon. Wood and Ben Stokes were the best bowlers on show for the home team. Australia have a lot to cheer about their performance on day 1 but the visitors would rue the fact that this performance came after they lost the series. The track has been a bit double paced and it would be interesting to see how it behaves tomorrow.

Brief Scores:

England won the toss and chose to field.

Australia 1^st innings – 287/3 (Warner 85, Smith 78*; Wood 1- 41)