Since Ben Stokes took over as captain of the Test team, England have been the team to beat.©Twitter
Cricket’s oldest rivalry, Ashes, had a grand opening on Friday when England won the toss and chose to bat against Australia in the first Test at Edgbaston. England, who last held the Ashes in 2015, suffered a 0-4 thrashing at the expense of their closest rivals, Australia, in the last meeting between the two sides in 2022. The defeat in the series marked the end of Joe Root’s reign as test team captain. However, since the arrival of Brendon McCullum as head coach and Ben Stokes replacing the captain’s armband, England have been the team to beat in Test cricket.
‘Bazball’, the term given to their ultra-aggressive brand of cricket, has taken Test cricket by storm. In his 14 games as captain, Stokes has 11 wins, with just three defeats.
After opting to bat, England struck the first trick, with Crawley elegantly driving Australian captain Pat Cummins’ opening throw through the covers for four.
Unpleasant #The axes #SonySportsNetwork #ENGvAUS #RivalsForever pic.twitter.com/SRDgfd4G5L
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) June 16, 2023
England were 102/2 after 21 overs, with Zak Crawley 56 not out and Joe Root 3 not out.
Australia’s recently crowned World Test champion omitted Mitchell Starc and recalled Josh Hazlewood.
The visitors have struck twice in the morning session so far. Josh Hazlewood got Ben Duckett (12) to go behind, while Ollie Pope’s knock of 31 was undone by a good LBW review of Nathan Lyon’s delivery.
England are bidding for their first Ashes series win since 2015, while Australia are aiming for England’s first Ashes campaign victory in 22 years.
(with AFP inputs)
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