Pat Cummins: It’s all gone to plan so far

Australia pacer Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of England’s Haseeb Hameed at the Gabba, Brisbane, yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

England captain Joe Root won the toss, opted to bat and lost opener Rory Burns on the first delivery of the Ashes series, a late swinging yorker from Australia paceman Mitchell Starc. It set the tone for the opening two sessions on Wednesday, which were more like open season for Australia's pace bowling pack.

Pat Cummins took the last three wickets and finished with a five-wicket haul in his first innings as Australia captain. The England innings finished with ominous thunder and lightning starting to the west and south of The Gabba.

Heavy rain and bad light combined to prevent any further play on Day One.

Gloomy conditions

The overcast conditions rapidly grew more gloomy for the visitors after Starc's early strike, with Josh Hazlewood dismissing Dawid Malan (6) and Root (0) as England slipped to 11-3 in the sixth over.

When Cummins took his first wicket - star all-rounder Ben Stokes (5) caught low at third slip by Marnus Labuschagne four balls after the first drinks break - England was reeling at 29-4.

Opener Haseeb Hameed defied the attack and helped England to 59-4 at lunch, but was out for 25 early in the second session when he edged a Cummins's delivery that moved away off the seam and was caught by Steven Smith at second slip. Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler settled the innings, combining in a 50-run stand to staunch the flow of wickets before both were out in their 30s.

Buttler played an expansive drive for his fifth boundary to reach 39 but was out next ball from Starc, edging behind to Alex Carey as England slumped to 112-6. England added six runs before Pope (35) top-edged an attempted hook and was caught by Hazlewood diving forward near the fine-leg boundary, giving all-rounder Cameron Green his first Test wicket.

Cummins had Ollie Robinson (0) caught behind and Mark Wood (8) caught at short-leg and the stadium lights were turned on before he had Chris Woakes (21) caught in the deep by Hazlewood to finish off the innings.

Cummins returned 5-38 from 13.1 overs, with Starc and Hazlewood taking two wickets apiece.

Cummins said that his first day as skipper in Test cricket has gone according to the plan. He added that he was proud of the way his teammates went about in dismissing England for just 147.

"Pretty crazy...It's all gone to plan so far. Really proud of all the guys," said Cummins in a chat with BT Sports.

Talking about doing well after losing the toss, Cummins said, "I was probably going to have a bat. I genuinely wasn't upset and we made the most of it."

‘Standard Gabba wicket'

Asked about his observations about the pitch, Cummins stated that it was a typical Gabba wicket. "It's a little bit soft. You're always in the game on the morning of Day One. It got a little bit quicker after lunch, but the ball got a little bit softer. It's a pretty standard Gabba wicket."

One
Pat Cummins is first Australian in over 100 years to claim a five-wicket haul on Test captaincy debut

Brief scores
England 147 all out (J Buttler 39, O Pope 35; P Cummins 5-38, M Starc 2-35, J Hazlewood 2-42) v Australia

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