Ben Stokes produced a ferocious captain’s spell to drag England back into an Ashes classic-in-the-making after Mitchell Starc’s career-best seven-for had earlier blown the tourists away on a chaotic opening day in Perth.
On a fast, spiteful Perth Stadium surface, England were skittled for 172 in just 32.5 overs after Stokes won the toss and chose to bat. Starc, leading an attack shorn of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, tore through the top and lower order for figures of 7-58 – his best in Ashes cricket and part of a collapse that saw England lose their last five wickets for 12 runs.
Harry Brook’s counter-attacking 58 from 63 balls was the only substantial resistance, with debutant keeper Jamie Smith (33) offering support before falling as England’s attempt to “Bazball” their way out of trouble tipped into recklessness against the short ball. None of the top three passed 21; Joe Root’s wait for an Ashes hundred in Australia goes on after a seventh-ball duck, also to Starc.
If the script looked depressingly familiar for England supporters at 172 all out, the bowlers had other ideas. Jofra Archer, playing his first Ashes Test in Australia, struck with his second ball to trap debutant Jake Weatherald lbw for 0, then later removed Marnus Labuschagne as the No.3 fended a brutal lifter onto his own stumps.
Brydon Carse joined the party by bouncing out stand-in captain Steve Smith for a scratchy 17 and then producing a vicious lifter that Usman Khawaja could only glove behind, leaving Australia reeling at 31-4. The hosts briefly steadied through Travis Head and Cameron Green, who added 45, but England’s all-pace gamble paid off spectacularly once Stokes brought himself on.
In a six-over burst that lived up to team-mate Ben Duckett’s “beast mode” label, Stokes ripped through the middle and lower order, removing Head, Green, Starc, Alex Carey and Scott Boland to claim 5-23 – becoming only the fifth England captain to take a five-for in an Ashes Test in Australia.
By stumps Australia were 123-9, Nathan Lyon (3*) and debutant Brendan Doggett (0*) surviving to the close but still 49 runs adrift. It was the most wickets to fall on the opening day of an Ashes Test since 1909, and leaves the series finely poised after just one astonishing day.
Scorecard snapshot – 1st Test, Perth, Day 1
- England 172 all out (32.5 overs) – Brook 58, Smith 33; Starc 7-58
- Australia 123-9 (39 overs) – Green 24, Carey 26; Stokes 5-23, Archer 2 wickets, Carse 2 wickets
- Australia trail by 49 runs with one wicket remaining
If day one is any guide, this Ashes could be pure chaos – and England’s quicks have made sure they’re very much in it.
