The Ashes 2021-22: The greatest rivalry in cricket is back as Australia and England battle it out in the first Test of the series. The first of the five Ashes Test matches started with a bang for Australia as Mitchell Starc clean bowled Rory Burns from behind his legs on the very first ball of the series.
The Aussie crowd was ecstatic as Starc got Rory Burns out on the first ball of the Gabba Test. England did not quite do the recovery job well as they were 59/4 at lunch on Day 1. Earlier in the day, England had won the toss and chosen to bat first.
Burns' wicket was quickly followed by the wickets of Dawid Malan and Joe Root who were picked up by Josh Hazlewood. England were 11/3 at one point. Ben Stokes, who is returning to the team after a break was not able to get going. Skipper Pat Cummins picked his wicket for just 5 runs.
Take a look at the first ball of the Ashes series:
This was quite an unplayable delivery for someone facing the first ball of a high-profie series. Haseeb and Ollie Pope were at the crease as the players went in for lunch. They have added up 30 runs since the wicket of Stokes.
Stuart Broad was dropped from the England Playing XI.
Here are both the teams:
England Playing XI: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Jack Leach
Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood