The highly anticipated Ashes series got underway at Edgbaston overnight.
As we all expected, England’s frantic approach to Test cricket made for an opening day that kept everyone on their toes, with the advantage changing hands from hour to hour.
Here are the five things you missed overnight.
Starc’s off, Hoff’s on
Australia, fresh off winning the World Test Championship final, made a big decision prior to the toss, with Josh Hazlewood was preferred to Mitch Starc in the pace attack.
“We need to rotate our bowlers,” Pat Cummins said at the toss.
“It was a really tough call on Mitch, but it’s a nice problem to have with someone like to Josh to come in.”
Hazlewood immediately justified his selection with the wicket of Ben Duckett in the fourth over of the day, and doubled down with the huge scalp of captain Ben Stokes after lunch.
Overall, he bowled 15 overs 2-61, his economy of 4.06 the best of all the Australian bowlers.
He also bowled the first maiden of the day — in the 37th over of the innings.
Starting stroke stuns Stokes
The first ball of an Ashes series is inordinately important.
In Brisbane 18 months ago, Rory Burns was castled first ball by Mitch Starc.
Needless to say, it set the tone for a comprehensive 4-0 series defeat.
That was a bit of a trend too.
In 2006 at the same venue, Steve Harmison bowled one of the worst opening balls in Test history, sending his first delivery straight into the hands of Andrew Flintoff at second slip.
So when Zak Crawley creamed Pat Cummins’s first ball of the series through cover for four, sending the capacity Edgbaston crowd into raptures, everyone associated with England smiled.
All apart from Ben Stokes, that is, who gaped at his opener’s stoke play off the very first ball against one of the world’s best bowlers.
Harry Brook’s ‘freakish’ dismissal
Harry Brook came out firing, smacking fours and charging Scott Boland, among others.
He rode his luck getting dropped on 24 by Travis Head, but when he was dismissed, it was borderline farcical.
Nathan Lyon was the bowler, Brook shouldered arms, the ball hitting him in the thigh and looping up into the air.
Everybody’s eyes turned skywards, apart from Brook, who stood his ground.
It was a fateful error.
Nobody knew where that ball had gone or was going, not least Brook, who would have shuddered when he heard the ball somehow, inexplicably, thud to earth behind him.
The ball landed in front of the stumps and knocked off the bails, bowling him and sending him on his way for a 37-ball 32.
“It’s a freakish dismissal,” BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew said on ABC Sport.
“If he tried to do that 1,000 times, he wouldn’t do it again.”
Never has the scorecard notation b. Lyon seemed so inadequate.
Joe Root given out, but he gloved it
Joe Root and his style is something of an anachronism when it comes to Bazball, an uncomfortable conformist to the all out attack most believe England’s new batting style entails.
However, with England struggling at 5-176 and the skipper back in the sheds after playing a decidedly rash shot, Root needed to stay in the middle as long as possible.
So when he was given out playing a reverse sweep by umpire Ahsan Raza, England’s supporters would have grimaced.
Root though, instantly reviewed with a broad grin on his face — and with good reason, when replays showed he’d punched the ball with his glove with as much force as fellow Sheffield local Kel Brook.
His dismissal would have left England at 6-226 with the returning Moeen Ali out in the middle and England teetering.
Instead, Root stayed and, as if to emphasise the point, smashed the very next ball for four with that same reverse sweep that could have bought about his downfall.
A Bazball declaration
Bazball is not all about hitting out, but doing the unexpected to put your opponents on the back foot.
It’s safe to day that declaring with 20 minutes of play remaining on day one would fit into that category.
With Joe Root hitting out and making his fourth Ashes century to rescue the day for England, Stokes called the side in at 8-393.
It left Australia 20 minutes to bat in front of a raucous Edgbaston crowd.
Had England taken a wicket or more, it would look like a genius move from Stokes.
As it happened, David Warner and Usman Khawaja survived to be 0-14 after four overs to take a huge confidence boost into day two.
Loading