“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Mitchell Starc made the opening Ashes session his own once more, taking three wickets including the premier scalp of Joe Root in a dizzying six-over spell.
England fans didn’t even have a moment to celebrate in the first over, with Zak Crawley chasing after multiple wide ones to no avail. He fell to Starc’s final ball of the first over, a seemingly innocuous delivery deliberately placed well-outside off-stump.
Ben Duckett’s brief counter-attack, comprising of some exquisite straight drives, was brought to an end by a typical Starc yorker. It left England 33-2, bringing Joe Root to the crease to a score-line he’s all too familiar with in Australia.
The moment of the morning arrived. For all the talk of a Root century, he was the victim to a different kind of ton. It was Starc’s 100th Ashes wicket, his best ball of the session squaring up the former England captain.
What could have spiralled into a calamity managed to settle down. Ollie Pope had the nervous start fans have been all too familiar with, but settled into his rhythm taking down Scott Boland who was struggling all session. It was one of a small number of positives that the man who terrorised England four years ago failed to generate the consistency of line and length that makes him such a handful.
Pope’s partnership with Harry Brook was worth 55, and could have materialised into something even more substantial had it not been for a stray shot. Cameron Green’s single over was to be Pope’s undoing, the wicket-taking delivery one that was pitched up, going on to clip leg-stump.
The session finished with England reeling at 105-4 having won the toss, on a pitch where the first innings average is 395. First blood goes to Australia.
