Pat Cummins took five wickets in a scintillating start to his captaincy as Australia routed England for 147 on the opening day of the Ashes at the Gabba on Wednesday.
After England skipper Joe Root opted to bat, the Australian pace bowling trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood ran riot to bundle the tourists out in just 50.1 overs.
Skipper’s grand start
Cummins, in his first game as Test captain after taking over from Tim Paine, claimed five for 38.
Starc took two for 35 and Hazlewood two for 42 as the English batters failed to come to grips with the bounce on a Gabba green top.
England made a disastrous start to the series when it lost Rory Burns off the first ball of the match, Starc bowling the left-hander around his legs. It was only the second time in Ashes history that a wicket had fallen off the first ball of the series. The previous instance was in 1936, also at Brisbane, when England’s Stan Worthington was dismissed.
Dawid Malan, who scored six, and Root, who was out for a duck, quickly followed as England slumped to 11 for three. Cummins chimed in to remove the dangerous Ben Stokes for five and leave England struggling at 59 for four at lunch on a hot and humid morning before Jos Buttler (39), Ollie Pope (35) and Chris Woakes (21) took the team to 147.
