Ashes 2021/22: Can England bounce back after a depressing, yet not surprising first day collapse?

England struggle to 147 in an old and repetitive story of a batting collapse on opening day of Ashes 2021/22
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The anticipation and build up for the 2021/22 Ashes series had been a roller coaster journey with scandals happening on both sides of the world adding to the pre-existing tension and rivalry that makes up the iconic Ashes series.

It had firstly been on the cards that the series would not take place at all due to the current Covid-19 restrictions in Australia. England had serious concerns over the ‘bubble’ environment of test cricket due to the pandemic and feared Australia would enforce harsh measures on the travelling party.

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Ben Stokes made a sudden return to the squad after a three month absence and fans rejoiced that their 2019 Ashes and World Cup hero was back to save the day.

Leach and Stokes at Headingley in 2019Leach and Stokes at Headingley in 2019
Leach and Stokes at Headingley in 2019

Australia’s test captain Tim Paine had already been called out by the Barmy Army for his lack of international test career runs but soon found himself in a much more perilous situation when a texting scandal from four years ago resurfaced. Paine made the decision to step down from his captaincy and just a few days later announced he would be taking a break from cricket to focus on his mental health.

England have not one an Ashes series in Australia since 2010/11 and Australia have held on to the urn since 2018.

Eventually, the day, the hour and the minute came when the two sides came face to face on the pitch and all of the pre-series angst and hype went away as the cricketers began to do their talking with bat and ball.

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With Joe Root in the form of his career, with a 2021 batting average 63.26, and Stokes back in the side fans had high anticipation for an exciting opening test match.

What happened on the first day of the Ashes 2021/22?

Mitchell Starc runs up to bowl the first ball of the 2021/22 Ashes series and immediately takes the wicket of Rory Burns.

All that hope, expectation and ambition seemed to vanish straight away.

Burns was out for a golden duck in opening Ashes match Burns was out for a golden duck in opening Ashes match
Burns was out for a golden duck in opening Ashes match

In comes Dawid Malan, who was recalled to the test squad in 2021 for the first time in four years, and survives a mere nine balls with six runs made before edging the ball to Alex Carey, making his test debut.

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But England did not feel they had to fear. Root and Stokes were the next players up to the mark. Just over two overs later, Root was gone. In almost an identical fashion to Malan, Warner catches the edge off Hazlewood.

Still, surely Stokes could bounce back into form? It was not to be. On his captaincy debut, Pat Cummins was in fine form and everyone’s fan favourite was gone after five runs.

Haseeb Hameed was the first batsman to have made any runs of note, but even he could not make it past a hard fought 25.

Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler come into the attack and for the first time, England begin to get some balance and action.

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The pair put on a partnership of 50 and steered their team from 60-5 to 112 before Buttler became Starc’s second victim.

Pope did not last much longer as Cameron Green claimed his first victim of his international test career, thanks to a suburb catch by Josh Hazlewood.

Chris Woakes was the final player to contribute with any significance and contributed 21 runs before being overpowered by a flying Cummins.

Cummins takes a fifer on his debut as test captainCummins takes a fifer on his debut as test captain
Cummins takes a fifer on his debut as test captain

It was not long before Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood were also wrapped up by the new test captain and Cummins ended his first day on the job with figures of 5-38.

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England were in complete disarray as their total amounted to 147 all out.

So what went wrong?

It appears to be the same old story nearly every time England gets a low score. Despite Hameed’s small but notable efforts it has been almost impossible to find a strong and long-lasting opening partnership.

If England’s opening batsmen are out within the first two overs, the middle-orders do not have much hope of working their way into the game.

It has been spoken of many times before and will continue to be spoken of again, England cannot rely on two star players to get them out of trouble whenever there is an opening collapse.

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Root and Stokes have often been subjected to supplying the entire innings when the first two or three batters fail to contribute.

England do not have a strong record at the Gabba, but there had been hopes they would at least be able to see the end of the day out with the bat and make it to a measly 200. However this was not to be the case and England could not even make the 150 mark.

It would be nice to argue that the nerves of an Ashes test match overwhelmed many of the players as many of the shots that were played seemed ill-timed and poorly judged, but it’s hard to be convinced of this due to the numerous times a complete batting collapse takes place.

Former England captain Mike Gatting had spoken saying that the Gabba test was often won in the first ball, first session of play. If this is the case, it is not setting the best precedent for the remainder of the series.

What can be done ahead of the next batting outing?

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All but one of the wickets were caught and the majority were caught in the slips. England must focus on the timing and precision of their shots if they are to avoid continuously edging the ball and slipping it neatly to the fielders behind.

There had already been much fear when it was announced James Anderson had been left out of the squad, but for the first time in 15 years of test cricket, both Anderson and Stuart Broad were omitted from the opening test. Root must hope that the younger generation - Woakes, Wood and Robinson - are up to the task of reducing Australia’s total as much as possible.

There is also the chance that rain could severely interfere with this test’s play, and it sounds unfortunate to say, but England may hope that this leads to a draw if Burns, Hameed and Malan cannot supply the runs in the second innings.

The second day of the first Ashes test match continues tonight, Wednesday 8 December 2021 at 11.30pm GMT.

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