Ben Stokes said in the run-up to the Ashes Series that England will not take their foot off the accelerator against Australia.
Well, with the first delivery of the first Test at Edgbaston, Zak Crawley added action to the word when he raced the ball to the boundary on the front foot.
The opener ended up hitting seven boundaries in his innings of 61 runs and he along with Joe Root (118*) and Jonny Bairstow (78) ensured that the home team batted at more than five runs per over.
Nathan Lyon admittedly took four wickets, but Root in particular enjoyed his bowling and he often put the Aussie spinner under pressure with his smash sweeps.
????
We were all Stokesy there…
Live clips/Scorecard: https://t.co/TZMO0eJDwY pic.twitter.com/rUEOIO7onJ
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 16, 2023
England chipped away after a first innings score of 400 and Stokes immediately declared the innings at 393/8 after just 78 overs. After all, he said before that he would much rather see the bowling prowess of the team’s no.1 1 batsman, James Anderson, than his skills with the willow bat.
The Aussies undoubtedly suffered from a bit of bomb shock when they walked off the field, but at least David Warner and Usman Khawaja were able to stand up against Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson.
The 36-year-old Warner in particular has to breathe a sigh of relief – Broad is often too good for him these days.
However, the visitors still face an eight-star stand of 379 runs. And that just after the first day’s play.
- Scorecard Summary:
England 393/8 declared in 78 overs: Joe Root 118*, Jonny Bairstow 78 and Nathan Lyon 4/149.
Australia 14/0 after 4 overs: David Warner 8*.
- Teams:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and James Anderson.
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland and Josh Hazlewood.
