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England bounced back from two early losses in the second Ashes Test at the Gabba, with Zak Crawley and Joe Root knuckling down to halt Australia’s momentum.
Mitchell Starc, the 10-wicket destroyer in Perth, continued to act as England’s bogeyman, ripping out Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks with the new pink ball.
But once he left the attack the threat diminished, with Crawley showing serious steel as he followed his pair in the first Test with a confident 61 not out and Joe Root making 32no.
At the the tea break of this day/night match, England were 98 for two and increasingly well set in handy batting conditions.
The guessing game over the fitness of Pat Cummins meant there was plenty of interest in the Australia’s teamsheet and the selectors duly delivered a major surprise.
While Cummins’ absence was no real surprise, the injured skipper having never officially been added to the squad, the decision to axe 562-wicket spinner Nathan Lyon for veteran seamer Michael Neser was something of a jaw-dropper. The 38-year-old was last left out of a home Test in January 2012 – a streak stretching back 69 consecutive appearances.
Australia’s gamble was immediately put to the test as Ben Stokes won the toss and batted first, a call that thrust Starc into centre stage. That is exactly where he does his best work and, for the third innings in a row, he struck gold in the first over.
Crawley was his victim both times in Perth but this time it was Duckett, pushing at a fullish ball that nipped away and edging to slip. The sinking feeling of deja-vu only continued when Starc landed another big blow, Ollie Pope chopping down his stumps with a badly judged shot to add yet another top-order failure for the tourists.
That brought Root to the crease in the third over and when he nicked a beauty from Starc, the scoreboard was agonisingly close to reading seven for three. But this time there was a reprieve, Steve Smith leaping to his left but failing to hold a fiercely difficult chance. Instead the ball scooted to the ropes for four and the England rebuild began.
Crawley had started admirably after his twin failures last time out, belatedly opening his account for the series with a lavish cover drive off his fourth ball.
He scored briskly but was still prepared to leave outside off, with a couple of hard-hit aerial drives the only real moments of risk. Starc was unable to snatch one in his follow-through on 15 and Scott Boland missed another rocket on 39, but Crawley never threatened to go inside his shell.
With Root looking fully focused and Lyon’s absence starting look like the elephant in the room, England ended the session in good spirits.
