Michael Vaughan "Staggered" Not To See Stuart Broad In England's XI In First Ashes Test Against Australia

Former England captain Michael Vaughan was “staggered” not to see Stuart Broad in England's XI in the first Ashes Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane. England played three specialist pacers in Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood with all-rounder Ben Stokes being the fourth seam-bowling option. With England's all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson already out of the first Test, it was expected that Broad in all likelihood will lead their pace attack on Wednesday. England captain Root at the toss said “it was a tough decision to make.”

Vaughan, however, was not convinced with Broad's exclusion. The former captain said there was enough juice on the Gabba pitch, which Broad could have used to good effect.

“A juicy pitch at GABBA .. Done more than I have ever seen it in my time watching Ashes cricket .. Englands test batting for a long time hasn't coped on these kind of pitches .. also staggered No Broad on this kind of surface,” Vaughan tweeted after rain and bad light forced an early stumps on Day 1.

A juicy pitch at GABBA .. Done more than I have ever seen it in my time watching Ashes cricket .. Englands test batting for a long time hasn't coped on these kind of pitches .. also staggered No Broad on this kind of surface .. #Ashes

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) December 8, 2021

The first day's play belonged to Australia completely. After England chose to bat first, which in itself was a surprising decision considering the nature of the pitch, Australia's new ball bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood made life difficult for the England top-order.

Starc in fact cleaned up England opener Rory Burns in the very first delivery of the Test match. Hazlewood then set up captain Root beautifully to send him back for a duck.

Australia's new Test captain Pat Cummins started the new chapter of his cricketing career by getting rid of Ben Stokes with a delivery that bounced from good length. The right-arm seamer returned with figures of 5 for 38, becoming first captain to pick up a five-wicket haul in an Ashes Test since former England captain Bob Willis in 1982.

England were bowled out for 147 in just 50.1 overs when rain came down heavily at the Gabba. It did stop towards the end but the conditions and light were not good enough for the Australian innings to start as the umpires decided to call it a day.

"It is a dream start. It was not a bad toss to lose. Starc started off nicely, all bowlers did their job and to keep England under 150 is something to be proud of. It was nice to take a fifer," said Cummins during the virtual press conference.

Topics mentioned in this article

The Ashes, 2021/22 Australia Cricket Team England Cricket Team Pat Cummins Michael Vaughan Stuart Broad Joe Root Cricket