England were as good as their word as they fought back with everything they had to stop Australia from riding off into the Brisbane sunset.
But it still wasn’t anywhere near enough to prevent Australia from taking complete control of the first Test as a gap between the teams already started to open up
With Travis Head grabbing the first hundred of the series, England still find themselves miles behind in the match as the Aussie batsmen took advantage of some generous gifts in the field and a bowling attack that is already struggling to cope with the demands Down Under.
By the time Head and Mitchell Starc walked off the ground the Aussies had made 343-7 with a lead of 196 over the visitors, meaning the game is firmly in their hands.
With three days still left, Joe Root would have walked off the ground wondering just what might have been had his team managed to be as clinical as the Aussies were on day one.
Catches were dropped, run outs missed and wickets were taken off no-balls, all adding up to the sense that England had only made a difficult job even tougher on themselves.
At least the broad frame of Ollie Robinson was equal to the task as he enjoyed his first Test match bowl in Australia to claim three scalps while looking threatening throughout.
Robinson struck early to remove Marcus Harris for three, caught at 3rd slip and later found himself on a hat-trick when he got rid of David Warner and Cam Green in successive balls.
The same must be said of Mark Wood too, whose pace caused plenty of problems for the Aussies, especially Warner.
How Warner managed to make it to 94 before Robinson eventually got him will remain one of the mysteries of Ashes cricket, but it is safe to say he rode his luck.
Firstly when he had made 17, Ben Stokes bowled him with his fourth ball of the day via his back pad, only to be told that it was a no-ball and he had to bowl it again.
Amazingly the technology that is supposed to call every no-ball by the 3rd umpire is not working in this game which means they can only check when a wicket is taken if it was a legal ball.
The on-field umpires are clearly out of practice when it comes to checking, because all three of Stokes’ previous balls were no-balls but he wasn’t warned and it cost him.
Warner should have walked on 48 too, edging Robinson comfortably to Rory Burns at 2nd slip only to see him drop the chance.
Former skipper Sir Alastair Cook said: “That is exactly where you want it to come. Hip high just to one side, see it all the way, that is a bad drop. It is a real area of improvement needed.”
All the while Warner and Marnus Labuschagne were putting England to the sword in a partnership of 156 for the second wicket.
One clear plan was to take down Jack Leach and deny Root the chance to rotate his pace bowlers around the spinner, and it largely worked.
Labuschagne took one liberty too many when he cut Leach straight to Wood at backward point for 74, but much of the damage had been done.
The sight of Steve Smith being removed by Wood for just 12, caught behind, had to be viewed as a win for England too considering his Ashes pedigree.
It was part of a four wicket burst for just 29 runs that inched England right back into the game.
But with the introduction of Head, Australia began to pull away again as England’s attack struggled to contain him.
Stokes was clearly struggling with a knee injury that restricted his ability to bowl while Leach was continually expensive whenever Root turned to him.
The England captain had to bowl a few more overs than he would have wanted, but he did manage to get his opposite man Pat Cummins along the way.
The problem is that Cummins is the captain that is still smiling, and for good reason.
