Ashes, 1st Test: Joe Root hits hundred as England walk Bazball talk with record declaration on Day 1

England scored at 5.03 runs per over on the opening day of the first Ashes Test.

Zak Crawley sent out early signs of what was to come with a brutal cover drive of the very first delivery of the day’s play. Joe Root reverse-scooped Australia’s captain Pat Cummins and Scott Boland for sixes. Harry Brook got out in a freakish manner. Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali threw their wickets away to Nathan Lyon but had no regrets as they walked back. And to top it all, England declared after batting just 78 overs and when one of their greatest batter, Joe Root, was unbeaten on 118.

If early signs are anything to go by, cricket fans are going to have plenty of fun, watching and following the much-anticipated Ashes series over the next month-and-a-half. England stayed true to their pre-series talk about continuing their aggressive brand of cricket, famously dubbed as ‘Bazball’, against their arch-rivals Australia. And Australia, the newly-crowned World Test Champions managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals to make sure England did not run away with it in the first innings on an Edgbaston pitch that drew ire for being too flat.

If Bazball is all about eliminating the fear of failure, England showcased plenty of it as they made the earliest declaration in the first innings in the history of an Ashes Test after scoring nearly 400 on the opening day.

They had David Warner and Usman Khawaja, the Australian opener, face 4 nervy overs against Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson but the two experienced batters did well to head to Stumps at 14 for 0.

GOOD DECLARATION CALL?
Stokes kept surprising everyone as he did not give the new-ball to James Anderson. It was the first time since 2009 Lord’s Test that Anderson did not bowl with the red cherry in England in a Test match.

The audacious declaration call seemed to have divided opinions with Ricky Ponting backing it and former England captain Kevin Pietersen struggling to understand the logic behind it on a good batting pitch at Edgbaston.

“We will find out if it’s the right thing to have done. I always got told 400… get to 400, 450 in the first innings of a Test match. It’s psychological. Maybe I am being too critical, I don’t know, we will see,” Pietersen told Sky Sports, adding that he thought Day 2 might be the best day for batting.

England won the toss and opted to bat and Zak Crawley got going immediately, leaving captain Stokes stunned. There was no let-up in intensity even though England lost Ben Duckett early to Josh Hazlewood.

Ollie Pope, who walked in at No. 3, did not relent as he and Crawley tore into the Australia new-ball attack in the first session.

England lost Crawley at the stroke of Lunch after the opener got to his fifty and finished with 61 in 73 deliveries.

CLASSY JOE ROOT
Joe Root, who held the England innings together, watched Harry Brook, who scored 4 hundreds in his last 7 Tests, went for his 5th but his knock of 32 ended after a bizarre dismissal to Nathan Lyon.

England were in a spot of bother when Ben Stokes threw his wicket away and burnt a review when he poked at a wide delivery from Josh Hazlewood as the hosts slipped to 176 for 1. At that point in the game, one would have thought England were doing a bit too much of Bazball but Root was there to steady the ship.

Jonny Bairstow proved his selection right, hitting a 78-ball 78 in a 121-run partnership that drove England out of trouble.

After Bairstow fell, Moeen Ali, who returned to the Test side after reversing retirement, hit 18 off just 17 balls before falling to Lyon while trying to step down the track and hit a huge one.

Root mixed aggression with solidity as he hit 4 sixes and 7 boundaries in a sensational knock. At no point was he troubled as he remained like a rock in the middle till the time Stokes made the declaration.

Nathan Lyon also shone as the off-spinner picked up 4 wickets on a pitch that offered very little to the bowlers. The off-spinner drew Bairstow and Moeen into playing big strokes and was rewarded for his brave bowling.