As was being anticipated even before the start of the Ashes 2023, England continued their aggressive brand of playing Test match cricket and made a surprise declaration with the scoreboard 393/8 on Day 1 of the Ashes 2023 opener at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Friday (June 16). It was former skipper Joe Root who was the star with the bat for the hosts as the right-handed batter scored 118 off 152 balls with the help of 7 fours and 4 sixes. Root played some splendid cricket strokes through the course of his innings. But known for his classical shots, one of the shot from the batters caught fans as well as a section of the cricket experts and commentators by surprise as he played a very uncharacteristic of him reverse-scoop.
Such sublime was the connection on that shot, that it went all the way for a maximum. If that wasn't enough, he played a similar shot later in the innings for the same result. While his first shot came off the bowling of Scott Boland in the fifth ball of the 53rd over, he repeated it again to finish off the 67th over which was being bowled by the Australian captain Pat Cummins. Such was his class that he managed to play that stroke with remarkable efficiency against pace bowlers was impressive, to say the least.
Take a look at his shot here:
At Stumps on Day 1, Australia have scored 14/0 in 4 overs with openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja unbeaten in the middle. Nathan Lyon was the pick of the bowlers for the tourists on Day 1 as he returned with figures of 4/149. The Aussies still trail by 379 runs in Birmingham.