Smith frustrates England

It's the first day of August and today is the first day of one of the crickets' biggest rivalries. England vs Australia, otherwise known as the Ashes. The Ashes has been around since the 1880s. Compared to that the World Cup that was on in the last month has been around since the 1970s. Even cricket's popular form T20 has been around since 2003. It's the first of 5 Tests and Edgbaston is hosting it. One of the major players of England's winning World Cup squad Jofra Archer is not in the squad for this match after being out with a side strain and captain Joe Root decided it was best to let him sit out this test match and recover with the intention of bringing him back into the team at Lords which takes part in two weeks time.  Edgbaston has been a fortress for England with them winning the majority of the matches they played at the ground.

Australia wins the toss.

Australia won the toss and decided to bat first and the biggest surprise was that two of Australia's top bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc weren't in the squad for this test and veteran Peter Siddle who featured in his first Ashes series 10 years ago was in the squad. The England fans made their feelings known to Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith after the ball-tampering scandal last year with the fans holding yellow pieces of paper very similar to the sandpaper. It even left a bitter taste in the mouths of the England fans as they were thinking did they do the tampering during the last Ashes series. The pitch has been seen as slow because of the rain that fell in Birmingham in the days leading up to the match.

Broad having another Ashes innings to remember

The first wicket of the morning fell after 3 overs when Stuart Broad bowled David Warner out lbw for 2 runs at 2-1. Then 4 overs later Cameron Bancroft went for 8 runs after nicking Broad's ball to Joe Root. Then Steve Smith came out to a chorus of boos from the England fans as he was the captain at the time of the scandal. The final wicket to fall during the morning was Usman Khawaja which after a review was given out after the ball hit the edge of his bat and went to wicketkeeper Johnny Bairstow leaving Australia at 35-3. After that Smith and Travis Head settled down and guided Australia to 83-3 at lunch. However, there was a concern for England as Jimmy Anderson was having to go for a scan on his calf.

Woakes becoming the next Anderson

Head then got bowled out lbw for 35 at 99-4. Then Matthew Wade was bowled lbw again by Woakes, leaving Australia at 105-5. It was looking like Australia's batters were having to rely on Steve Smith. Tim Paine was the next wicket as he hit Broad in the air only to find Rory Burns and made it 112-6 leaving with just 5 runs. The next batter to come in was James Pattinson, he then was bowled lbw on 0 runs after just 2 balls. However, if Australia did review he would have survived as the ball was missing stumps. This was creating headlines saying that the umpires were having a shocker.

Steve Smith hanging in there.

Then Ben Stokes bowled Pat Cummins out lbw leaving Australia now looking at 122-8 after Cummins scored 5 runs. Steve Smith was still in but saw his teammates lose their wickets.  Woakes thought he got Siddle out but he went for a review and it became clear that it hit his bat then went on to his leg pad. Then the next ball the umpires did a review themselves but the ball hit the ground before reaching Burns. After the chaos, Steve Smith scored his 25th 50 to a mixture of boos and cheers. Australia finished the afternoon session at 154- 8

After a small delay due to a light shower, the action Australia put on another 14 runs as they originally stopped play but were called back on as the umpires said it wasn't falling hard to take them off. But after putting on an 88-run partnership Moeen Ali made Siddle edge the ball into the hands of Jos Buttler to make it 210-9. Smith despite losing partners all-day reached his century after 184 balls and being at the crease for nearly 5 hours, with some of the England fans booing. England was looking for ways to take the final wicket of the innings, including a near take by Olly Stone but the ball was just too good for him to stop it going for 4 runs. Smith carried on the attack and was looking to get his 150. However, Broad bowled him and took his 5th wicket and Australia ended their innings at 284.

Smith scoring 144 runs before being bowled out

England had 6 minutes of batting today which gave them two overs to survive. Jason Roy and Rory Burns went out and had to survive the minutes. Burns was the batsman tasked with going against Pat Cummins. Burns got England off with 3 runs on the second ball and Jason Roy defended the last 4 balls. England had one more over to survive.  They had Woakes ready to be nightwatchman. He wasn't needed as England scored 6 more runs and ended the day on 10-0.

England will spend tomorrow out looking to bat and get on the scoreboard. All eyes are on the England locker room as questions will be asked about how Jimmy Anderson's calf is after spending all afternoon getting scanned.

Back with tomorrow's action.

KRO Mark