Australia bring England down to earth with a bump in First Ashes Test

England 374 and 146 all out : Australia 284 all out and 487 for 7 – 1st to 5th August

The Baggy Greens, in particular Steve Smith, whose two consecutive scores of 140 virtually won the match, took three catches and also appeared to be setting the field for England’s downfall on behalf of captain Tim Paine, effectively roasted their hosts. 

England’s bowlers quite simply had no answer to Smith, although huge credit goes to Rory Burns for his maiden 133, at least he kept his side in touch helping them to a modest lead of 90 post first innings. However, there would be nothing left to deny the mesmerising spin of Nathan Lyon – 9 wickets in the match and figures of 6 for 49 in the second innings – or counter the searing pace bowling of Pat Cummins who took the key wickets of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and a lively rearguard in Chris Broad in the first  session, followed by, Burns (11), Buttler (1), Jonny Bairstow (6) and Chris Woakes another tailend live wire for 37, in the second. 

What next for England?

The questions hanging over the England Test team are many. Where do they go next to shore up a side that looked ill equipped against a rampant Australia, even without the added threat of Mitchell Starc? 

Firstly an injured Jimmy Anderson should not have been allowed to return prematurely, his aggravated calf problem left the home side a bowler down in play, and he is now more or less ruled out of the series. Jofra Archer, his potential replacement, is recovering from a side strain and currently in rehab playing for Sussex CCC second team, which hopefully bodes well. Mark Wood also with a side strain will only be fit for the last two Ashes Tests. If neither Archer or Wood are ready then, Liam Plunkett, a World Cup winning squad member, could return to Test cricket after a long absence – he played nine matches in the noughties

Then comes the question of the poor performances of the England World Cup winners selected for the Test team only three weeks following completion of a demandingly successful ODI tournament.

Jason Roy remains the most obvious candidate for the opener’s spot vacated by Sir Alastair Cook, despite a below-par average in the last match of 19 and Burns has surely earned his place in the other opening berth. 

However, there are others who appear to be completely out of form. Moeen Ali is way off the pace with ball and bat and Bairstow’s batting mojo has vapourised. To the extent that the England selectors might be inclined to move Buttler into the wicketkeeper’s role, despite his equally poor batting performance but with greater recovery potential, and bring in another batsman for Bairstow. Then drop Moeen in favour of Somerset’s left-arm spinner Jack Leach, to try and exploit Smith’s one supposed batting weakness. Plus Leach can also bat, proven when he hit 92 for England as a nightwatchman against Ireland.

Joe Denly batting at four has hardly looked comfortable averaging 14.5 but he is likely to keep his place as a second chance.

While, the selectors may opt to do nothing other than replace Jimmy Anderson this time round, it is those highly critical England supporters who will be most keen to see constructive changes in a genuine attempt to even up what looks like an extremely one sided Ashes contest. Currently Australia are ahead in a series for the terracotta urn being played in the UK, for the first time in 14 years.

England have plenty of problems to address before the second Test at Lord’s begins on Wednesday 14th of August, but none more pressing than how to take Steve Smith’s wicket.