In order to keep their hopes alive in the ongoing Ashes 2023, England could not afford to lose the ongoing Test at Old Trafford. They brought James Anderson back into the squad in the fourth Test and are backing Moeen Ali to do the job at number three, despite him flopping with the bat so far in the series. Meanwhile, bowling has been a major issue for the home team in the first two Test matches of the series, and thus, they wanted to start well on Day 1.
Notably, Usman Khawaja once again struggled to get going as Stuart Broad got the better of the southpaw, while David Warner got the much-needed start but failed to capitalise on it as Chris Woakes sent him back to the pavilion. Thus, the entire responsibility fell on the shoulders of Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith. The duo were slowly building a decent partnership in the middle, but Smith, unfortunately, failed to hit Mark Wood’s thunderbolt as he walked back after scoring 41 runs.
Later on, Travis Head took matters into his own hands and brought back the momentum in Australia’s favours but just like Warner and Smith; the cricketer could not prolong his innings. Mitch Marsh later hit a terrific half-century, and so did Labuschagne, but English bowlers showed a lot of resilience as that more or less shaped Day 1.
Meanwhile, the returning Cameron Green and stumper-batter Alex Carey could not make much of an impact, as the responsibility fell on Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Notably, Starc looked really good with the bat as Australia finished the day with 299 runs on the board, with the loss of eight wickets.
On the other hand, Day 1 was history being made when ace pacer Stuart Broad picked up his 600th Test wicket. He has been sensational throughout the series and picked up two wickets on the opening day.
Here’s how Twitter reacted –
Chris Woakes took four wickets as England kept a check on Australia on Day 1 👀#WTC25 #ENGvAUS