A day when it all went wrong for Root

Dismissal of Burns from the very first ball sets tone as skipper’s decision to bat first backfires and under-prepared tourists crash to 147

- Will Macpherson

THERE are sports in which 147 is an excellent, even perfect, score. Test cricket, especially on the opening day of the Ashes, is not one of them. England are not quite snookered yet, but it is a long way back from a first day like this in Australia, their most taxing tour.

Much was made of the battle of the two captains, the ICC’s No1-ranked bowler, Pat Cummins, new to the job, and the No1-ranked batter, Joe Root, looking to become an Ashes-winning captain at the third time of asking.

The first act could not have been won more emphatically by Cummins. Root won the toss, to the relief of Cummins, who was uncertain what to do. He opted to bat and, in an almost impossibly dramatic opening, watched his senior opener bowled first ball, found himself at the crease a couple of overs later and was gone without scoring not long after.

His team were bowled out for 147, before the forecast rain arrived. By the time it passed, bad light prevented play resuming and stumps were called.

In helpful conditions, Root’s bowlers were therefore denied a chance to get England back into the game and dampen the fuss around the decision to leave out James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the first time in 37 Ashes Tests. That was grounded in some logic — the desire to protect two men in the autumn of their careers at risk of muscle injuries — but if England lose heavily in these conditions, which would have suited them, the noise will be as deafening as the thunder heard at the Gabba this afternoon.