The Ashes 2023: 5th Test (Day-1) Match Report (England vs Australia)

On the day-1 of England vs Australia’s fifth test of the Ashes 2023, the Aussies won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first wherein they wrapped up England at a score of 283/10 on the scoreboard. Harry Brook remained the most successful among the batters by smashing 85 off 91 balls whereas Duckett missed his half-century by 9 runs. On the other side, Starc remained impressive with his outstanding spell of 4/82 while Murphy & Hazlewood claimed two wickets each.

The Ashes 2023, 5th Test (Day-1): How England started off

Both the England openers Crawley & Duckett gave a decent start to the team by building a fifty run partnership for the first wicket. At a score of 62 runs, Duckett became the first one to find his way to pavillion as he nicked a ball by Marsh down the leg side resulting in caught behind by Carey. As Duckett departed, England suffered back to back blows as within a frame of next 11 runs in four overs, they lost two crucial wickets of Crawley & Root at a score of 73 runs which increased headache for the English side.

The Ashes 2023, 5th Test (Day-1): Brook anchored the innings

As England lost its three key wickets, they required stable partnerships if they had to reach a mark of 300 runs. Now, on the crease were two new batters, Moeen Ali & Harry Brook. Both of them did sensible batting together added 111 runs to the total taking England to 184 runs before Moeen fell prey to Murphy when he tried to play across the line a full length quick delivery and ended up missing it, thereby missing out the ball which crashed into the middle & leg side wicket. Meanwhile, Brook completed his fifty off just 44 balls.

Following the departure of Ali, England faced three big blows leading to loss of crucial wickets of Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow & Harry Brook in a short span of 28 runs. Stokes being the first one among the three batters to lose his wicket at a score of mere 3 runs when he got clean bowled by Starc on a quick delivery. Soon after, having scored just 4 runs, Bairstow got an thick inside edge on a brilliant delivery by Hazlewood, thereby guiding the ball to the leg stump.

Brook remained the most successful batter from England as he scored 85 runs off 93 balls, though missed out his ton. Brook fell prey to Starc when he tried to play a full length fast delivery which found an edge off his bat and landed in the hands of Smith positioned at the second slip. Brook not only brought back on track England’s innings with his brilliant knock, but also accelerated the run rate as he smashed 11 boundaries along with two sixes.

Among the last three tail-enders, both Woakes & Wood played pivotal knocks of 36 runs & 28 runs respectively and together added 49 runs to the total. England’s innings wrapped up at a score of 283 runs, thereby missing out the 300-mark. Out of the last three wickets, Starc claimed two, that is, Woakes & Broad whereas Murphy got the wicket of Wood.

The Ashes 2023, 5th Test (Day-1): At Stumps

Before end of the day, 25 overs were left to be played when Australian batters started off their first innings. The Aussies got a decent start with Khawaja & Warner on the crease. Both added 49 runs for the first wicket before Warner got an outside edge on a good length delivery by Woakes resulting in a superb catch by Crawley. At stumps, the Aussies were 61/1 with Khawaja & Labuschagne on the crease.

BRIEF SCORE: Day-1 (5th Test), England vs Australia, The Ashes 2023
England: 283/10 (Brook 85, Duckett 41, Woakes 36, Starc 4/82, Murphy 2/22, Hazlewood 2/54)
Australia: 61/1 (Khawaja 26*, Warner 24, Woakes 1/8)

Australia trail by 222 runs

The Ashes 2023, 5th Test (Day-1): Match Details

• Venue: Kennington Oval, London, England
• Dates: 27 Jul – 31 Jul
• Toss: Won by Australia, Chose to Bowl first
• Umpires: Joel Wilson (WI) & Kumar Dharmasena (SL)
• TV umpire: Nitin Menon (IND)
• Reserve umpire: David Millns (ENG)
• Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL)
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