The Ashes Chronicles

Second Test Day 1 Brisbane

It is Tea on Day two so it’s slightly misleading to say “Second Test Day 1”. The last two hours have drastically changed how I feel about this game.

Truth be told I completely forgot I had promised to do a daily piece because of how frustrated I was this morning about Day 1. In fact, if it wasn’t for one of my brother’s friends (different brother than the NFL pieces) I wouldn’t have remembered at all.

I was going to shout him out for reminding me, but then I was informed he is supporting England so I will not be doing that.

Anyway, the biggest reason for my frustration was England’s batting looked very settled. Although, to be completely fair I only watched the first session and the last half an hour.

I’ve realised my schedule over the spread of this match is horrific and I won’t be able to watch an entire day’s play. Very bummed out by that. That’s why I’m scribbling this now because I’m going to bed right after to hopefully wake up to good news (Steve Smith not out over night please.)

Zak Crawley avoided a third consecutive duck much to my disappointment but Mitchell Starc would not be denied his first over wicket and Ben Duckett departed after facing only one ball. I was ecstatic.

Not happy with that, Starc got Ollie Pope to chop a delivery onto his stumps nine balls later and once again England’s top order had crumbled beautifully. Pope’s dismissal brought Joe Root to the crease with England at 5/2.

And then, at least from the couch, it looked like Australia couldn’t put pressure on Crawley and Root. Starc aside, the Aussie attack, still lacking Cummins and Hazlewood and now Nathan Lyon who was dropped for this game, seemed slightly wayward, out of sorts and easy to face.

Worse still, I’m stuck watching the English broadcast because it’s ahead of the Australian one and the video quality is better. So while Crawley and Root were easing themselves through to tea I was forced to endure the nauseating love fest from the commentators about England. Yuck.

The fact this is a pink ball test also heavily contributed to the outcome of the first day. Really all the typical pink ball things happened.

The ball was very effective early on, particularly in the hands of Starc. Check. The ball went soft and batting looked very simple. Check. Under lights it becomes a different proposition altogether. Check… allegedly.

I say allegedly because I was asleep so I didn’t see any of this.

At lunch England were 98/2. The next score I actually remember is 264/9. I did wake up at 4:30, checked the score and saw Root somewhere in the 70’s and promptly went back to bed.

The next time I checked it, he’d done the thing.

I will admit I’m not happy about it at all. I desperately wanted Root to go through the series and his career without scoring a test century in Australia. I make no attempts to hide it, I am extremely partisan in this case both in favour of Australia and against England.

But I’m also able to admit before I fell asleep Root looked in complete control and I did think, when he had scored somewhere around 17 runs, “he’s probably going to get a hundred today and I’m never going to hear the end of it.”

He did. I haven’t and I’m not happy. But I am in a much better mood right now so I can honestly applaud it. Well done Joe Root. A truly class player as my grandfather would say.

Before that though, while I was sleeping, Michael Neser dismissed Crawley for 76 and Starc got Harry Brook for 31.

The visitors pushed on to 210/4 then English born Josh Inglis ran out Ben Stokes with only one stump to aim at and Scott Boland bowled Jamie Smith for a duck three balls later. I cannot express how much you truly love to see it.

211/6.

Never one to miss out on a wicket party Starc took three in five balls across two overs to take six wickets in an innings for the third successive match. He’s taken 16 wickets in the first two tests, the most in Ashes cricket since Mitchell Johnson’s 17 in 2013/14.

It’s very unlikely Starc doesn’t pass that by the time this test is done. The way he’s been bowling, he’ll almost certainly match it in the first over of the third inning.

(It is 2:08 a.m. Steve Smith has just faced his first ball. I am going to wake up either beaming or incredibly depressed.)

That being said, once again, the Australian’s struggled to break a tailend partnership. And this is where I woke up. To remind you, England were 264/9. This “afternoon” when they were finally dismissed they had scored 334 runs.

Jofra Archer, the last batter mind you, and Root put on a 70 run partnership and Archer scored 38 of them. That was not fun to watch in the slightest.

(It’s 2:14 a.m. and Smith has gotten off the mark. I breathed a massive sigh of relief.)

That is unless you are one of the English fans I heard chanting through the television or, for still unknown reasons, my brother’s friend.

I’d like more of the collapsing and poor bowling from the English please.

I’m off to bed. Here’s to hoping.

(The sun is setting and all of a sudden batting looks impossible. I can’t take this.)