Ashes 2021-22: Australia v England first Test, day one – live!

• 4.58am GMT04:58 Tea England 147 all out
• 4.50am GMT04:50 Well ...
• 4.41am GMT04:41 WICKET! Woakes c Hazlewood b Cummins 21 (England 147 all out)
• 4.30am GMT04:30 WICKET! Wood c Harris b Cummins 8 (England 144-9)
• 4.12am GMT04:12 WICKET! Robinson c Carey b Cummins 0 (England 118-8)
• 4.07am GMT04:07 WICKET! Pope c Hazlewood b Green 35 (England 118-7)
• 3.51am GMT03:51 WICKET! Buttler c Carey b Starc 39 (England 112-5)

I’ve just heard our OBO’er Geoff Lemon on the radio say that there is electricity in the air and a storm approaching. Glenn McGrath, who doesn’t look like Glenn McGrath, is reporting from underneath an umbrella and is struggling to hold it straight against the wind. We will have a pause to gather our thoughts/lick our wounds. Do send me any musings.

What a morning! Losing the toss turned out to be a masterstroke for Cummins, who would also have batted. The conditions were helpful, his bowlers on song, and England under-cooked. The fifth lowest total batting first at the Gabba is not the start Root was looking for. Alastair Cook thinks it was a 300 wicket, Steve Harmison thinks Australia’s success came from whacking the deck, not kissing it. We watch and wait. Kudos to Jos Buttler and Ollie Pope though, and to the early stonewalling from Hameed and a late flurry from Woakes. Time to quickly boil the kettle.

Woakes takes on the bouncer, Cummins has his five-fer! Another great smash-and grab catch on the boundary by Hazlewood. Cummins pulls on his baggy-green, holds up the ball and is carried off the field on a sea of applause.

50th over: England 147-9 (Leach 2, Woakes 21) Lyon, chewing gum, shaven headed and long-sleeved, tempts and twirls, but no gold.

“Morning Tanya.” Morning Kim Thonger! “Thrilled to join the fun as I wake up and find these two in with a good shot at exceeding England’s all time highest tenth wicket partnership of 198 by Root and Anderson”https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283526.html

Ha!

49th over: England 146-9 (Leach 2, Woakes 20) Cummins has three balls to try and pick up his five-fer but Leach isnt playing. RESOLUTE.

I bet! Sounds wonderful.

Snaffled at short leg, fending off a snorter aimed at the ribs.

48th over: England 143-8 (Wood 8, Woakes 19) The camera pans to Stokes, who is looking pensive and freshly shaved. Hazlewood, all arms, legs and ears, drags his body through another over. Woakes leans back into a huge hook, but doesn’t quite reach the boundary.

47th over: England 140-8 (Wood 6, Woakes 18) These two making it look relatively easy. Another four for Woakes - stylish, through mid-off - while Wood snorts a couple. Cummins looks slightly put out and sends down a couple of short ones.

“G’Day from the Pacific North West,” writes David Gilbank. “Went fishing today off the coast South Beach in Newport Oregon and caught 5 Cod and snagged what the locals call Dungeony Crabs. They were delicious.Was hoping someone somehow could link my crab success with England’s performance today?I’m at a loss...”

46th over: England 134-8 (Wood 0, Woakes 18) Woakesnonchalantly hits Hazlewood for three successive boundaries - the third a clever play on angles over the slips. I reach for my forgotten tea -i t’s gone cold.

“ I was going to copy your thoughts, having let the cat out into a stiff pyraneean breeze an hour ago and remembered that England were being slaughtered on the other side of the world, but then retreaving some sense of order but ....heyho, somebody decided to make you the bearer of snotty news!One hopes things will improve a little, including for you, your back-up team and dog!”

Thanks Tone White! The dog’s has joined me in her basket, just stirring every now and then to sniff the runes.

45th over: England 122-8 (Wood 0, Woakes 6) Wood can find a smile as he wanders up to have a chat with Woakes at the end of another successful over from Cummins. Perhaps they fancy the pitch? The cameras have not found Root - what a crushing of dreams on the first morning. Still - remember how India started their triumphant tour down under at the start of the year.

Australia’s big men doing the business! A third for captain Cummins as Robinson pulls out a leaden-footed prod away from his body.

44th over: England 122-7 (Robinson 0, Woakes 6) Woakes grabs some skin back for England with a velveteen cover-drive, but things are suddenly looking rather more ragtag for Root’s men.

A first Test wicket for the mountainous but baby-faced Green, with his first ball of the series! Pope is top-heavy on a hook and the edges flies down to Hazlewood who watches from just inside the boundary and propels his body forward to gather the ball off the ground. Great catch.

43rd over: England 118-6 (Pope 35, Woakes 2) Woakes gets his reflexes tested with a snifter from Starc; Woakes nobly bends his front knee and dips his head.

“Well, there’s a welcome to the blog for you. (Guessing you’re recapping Buttler’s wicket now.)“ writes Meghan Purvis. “I’m watching from east London but regret to inform you I’m an Australia supporter, so soaring on caffeine and unbridled joy. Odds of us seeing Australia start to bat by the time the rest of London’s waking up?”

Oooh, they’ve got to be high, I bet you my first steaming cup of coffee that Labuschagne is strolling in before the close.

42nd over: England 117-6 (Pope 34, Woakes 2) The skies are still cloudy above the Gabba but there are slithers of shadow following the fielders around. Pope keeps things moving with a drive through the covers off Lyon

41st over: England 114-6 (Pope 31, Woakes 2) Woakes picks up a couple to get off the mark with a smart looking drive. Super bowling from Starc that brings that mini England fight-back to a flowery full stop. Root must be relieved that he’s got Woakes coming in at eight, not Ollie Robinson.

The ball after sending Starc spinning square for four with a sublime bit of wristiness, Buttler gets an edge on a beauty edging away from him, which is calmly gathered behind the stumps.

40th over: England 108-5 (Pope 31, Buttler 35) Thanks Geoff! Fantastic stuff. Well, as Nathan Lyon reels through a maiden, this is significantly more cheerful than when I dozed off at a sniff and a snort for four.

Geoff Lemon

Anyway, that’s me for the day. England supporters, I hope you’re feeling a tiny bit better, though I’m sure you’ll still be made mostly of worry and fear.

On which note, let me hand you over to Tanya: All Dread.

A quick mention: Adam Collins and I make a podcast called The Final Word, and the Guardian has brought us on board for the Ashes. So we’ll making an Ashes Daily show, along with Emma John, at stumps each day. Fifteen minutes of talking through the day that has been, mostly for the benefit of people who can’t sit down and watch it all, or can’t stay awake to do so.

It’ll be in the Guardian podcast feed, or on this page here.

Below is a sample of the show, if you’re interested. Our episode from the T20 World Cup final. Similar format.

39th over: England 108-5 (Pope 31, Buttler 35) Starc bowls his third over since lunch, with Buttler happy to duck and defend before drinks.

38th over: England 107-5 (Pope 30, Buttler 35) Driven through long-on by Pope, and a good chase from Head is required to drag the ball back and save Lyon a boundary. Three runs instead. But Buttler takes strike and gets all four with a drive through extra cover, waiting for the ball to dip and then driving alone the ground. Top shot to a delivery too full.

37th over: England 100-5 (Pope 27, Buttler 31) Rapturous applause from segments of the ground as Pope slides Starc down to fine leg for the run that raises England’s hundred. Then Buttler is nearly caught at short cover! We foreshadowed that, and he does exactly what he does, reaching for a drive and hitting it low but aerially. It bounces just in front of Labuschagne, into his hands on the half-volley.

36th over: England 98-5 (Pope 26, Buttler 30) Nathan ‘Nathan’ Lyon gets another crack at bowling. Pate nude and polished, limbs gangly, he approaches the crease like a windchime in a stiff breeze. Pope whips a single. This next contest will be interesting. Does Buttler try to take down the spinner? Not in the first instance, having a few looks before driving one run down the ground off the back foot.

35th over: England 96-5 (Pope 25, Buttler 29) Baby’s first review! Cummins and Carey each take their first DRS appeal upstairs as Buttler can’t catch up with a ball down the leg side. Starc appealed but then didn’t look convinced about reviewing it. The others were. Nothing on it. Outside off stump might be more likely to be where Starc gets Buttler, with pace sliding a top edge from an angled bat into the cordon, that sort of thing. Buttler plays it out, driving the last ball back to the bowler who fields well.

34th over: England 96-5 (Pope 25, Buttler 29) Josh Hazlewood, which is of course French for Josh Has The Wood, takes the Kookaburra from the Stanley Street end. Pope nudges a run into the covers. Buttler and Josh, this is a good battle. Hazlewood gives him a straight enough line for Buttler to whip three runs through midwicket. Gosh he looks good today. The sun is peeking out again. Batting is possible. Had the top order been able to scrap through for long enough that Root was batting now, for instance, the call to bat would have been paying off.

“I still reckon batting was the right call,” writes Luke McLaughlin. “Burns jumped out of the way of a leg-stump half-volley and Malan never needed to play his one. OK, Root and Stokes, brilliant bowling, but the very, very impressive Hameed showed that batting isn’t impossible.”

Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug. We’ll hear endlessly from people today that obviously England should have bowled, because England lost wickets batting. Rather, England didn’t bat well, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have taken the opportunity to try to bat well.

33rd over: England 92-5 (Pope 24, Buttler 26) Buttler! You cad! Rocks back and sashays Cummins away through backward point with a leaning cut shot. Lots of flourish there. That’s 26 off 26. If he can just keep this up for another 150 balls or so they’ll be well placed.

32nd over: England 87-5 (Pope 23, Buttler 22) Again Buttler goes through extra cover, taking on Hazlewood. Picks up three runs as Head slides near the boundary to pull the ball back. The field changes for Buttler. Third slip goes to cover. He does have a tendency to be caught there, so it’s not exactly a defensive move. When he gets strike back from Pope, though, he drives through midwicket for two. This is good stuff, 22 from 23 balls now.

31st over: England 81-5 (Pope 22, Buttler 17) Australia attacks, Buttler counterattacks, Cummins counter-counterattacks. Bowls a beauty, past the outside edge as the wicketkeeper pushes at nothing. Buttler counter-counter-counters by getting up on his toes to punch through point again, three more runs. He’s got 17 at basically a run a ball. Pope clips a brace, then gets some ice on his arm where he took that impact.

30th over: England 76-5 (Pope 20, Buttler 14) Shot from Buttler! The field is up - the only player in the deep is fine leg - and there is no one at cover. So there is no need to keep the ball down, and Buttler steps into Hazlewood’s length ball and drives it lofted, on the up, over extra cover for four.

Deciding that felt good, he aims to end the over with another, this time over mid-on. The bat turns in his fist and the ball goes straighter, and very high. Entirely safe though, and it pitches just inside the rope and stops to yield three runs.

29th over: England 69-5 (Pope 20, Buttler 7) At least there’s some busyness at the crease between Pope and Buttler. Zipping up and back for a couple of singles. Cummins doesn’t like that, so he gives Pope a bouncer, then bowls a mid-length short ball that crashes into Pope’s back arm around the bicep. Flex it off, buddy.

28th over: England 67-5 (Pope 19, Buttler 6) Softly spoken but carrying a big stick, Buttler can do damage. He just hasn’t done it all that often in Test cricket. He almost nicks off for nought here, playing a big drive at Hazlewood that misses the ball completely. Undaunted, he goes for another from a slightly fuller ball, a cover drive with a wristy flick to it for four. Then rides the bounce to push two through point. If you can score like that from Hazlewood’s optimum length, you’ll go a long way to succeeding against him.

27th over: England 60-5 (Pope 18, Buttler 0) Last chance saloon then, with Buttler and Pope together. A 200 partnership sounds about right. Cummins has 2 for 17 in his first innings as captain.

“I’m sorry. Did I break your concentration?”

In this scene, the lunch break is played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Straightforward quality stuff from Cummins. Full enough to draw the feet, tight enough line to draw a shot, movement enough to draw the edge. Hameed probably doesn’t need to play at this, but only just. He edges to second slip.

Apologies to Tom Kirkpatrick, from a couple of minutes to go. “I’m in Guatemala, not England, but I’m still with you. I’ll be up for a few more hours to see if Hameed and Pope can make a start on the 200 partnership we need from them. You never know.. they could do it.”