Australia v England: Ashes second Test, day one - live

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50th over: England 203-4 (Root 70, Stokes 19) A gorgeous Stokes off drive for four, bat face open for autographs, off the first ball of Starc’s over brings up the England 200. Later in the over, Stokes swishes and misses. Without wanting to delve into fan fiction, Stokes and Starc and Root are glistening with sweat here, their skin luminescent under floodlights, every angle illuminated.

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49th over: England 197-4 (Root 70, Stokes 15) Neser. The stands are bursting. England anti-Bazzballing these twilight overs. A sharp single to finish.

Hello there, Mike Morris!

“Will Juba’s elegant message (44th over) has inspired me to write a haiku about the day’s play, it’s called “The Aussie Attack”:-

A toothless array

Wickets fall with abandon

Mitchell bloody Starc

Readers may insert a stronger epithet than “bloody” without corrupting my poetic intent.”

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Evening session

48th over: England 197-4 (Root 69, Stokes 14)

“Tactically this session is what you set up your game for,” Haddin says. “If Stokes and Root can dig in and get through it, the rewards will be immense.”

Starc paws the dirt. Runs in, puffing his cheeks, three slips lurking. A single, then Stokes must endure five balls. Starc is disgusted with the ball, and hands it to the umpire – but it still merrily goes through the magic ring. Starc can’t believe it. Head puts in his two-pennies-worth but is ignored.

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Harry Brook gets a pasting in the Haddin-Prior dinner-time chat. “He’s selling himself out and his team,” growls Haddin. Similar talk on TMS earlier, with Agnew saying that Brook is at risk of wasting his immense talent. I do wonder if Bazball has been the best framework for him – when I was watching Brook play for Yorkshire before he was picked for England, I don’t remember him playing with such recklessness.

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Dinner - England 196-4

47th over: England 196-4 (Root 68, Stokes 14) Neser shimmies in. Stokes lets one pass him by that whispers very close to his off stump. And another beauty sways past the outside edge. And another. Carey stalks him close up to the stumps, silken gloves and there’s another fabulous take over Stokes’s head. England have scored just five runs in the last five overs – but survived. Well played. A twenty minute break now for beans on toast/energy gels at the Gabba, and coffees all round back home.

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Updated at 04.20 EST

446th over: England 196-4 (Root 67, Stokes 14) Smith and Head try to persuade the umpire to change the ball but it still fits through his pocket ball measurer, so they’re sent on their way. The TV pictures are going heavy on the stunning sunset, less on the chanting Barmy Army. You can sense Stokes’ concentration here as he lets one from Starc pass by his poised bat. Just one over before tea/dinner I think.

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Updated at 03.43 EST

45th over: England 194-4 (Root 67, Stokes 13) Neser replaces Boland. Five dots balls, a wide – then the extra ball nearly does for Stokes as it sprays off the pitch and lollops up. Stokes stares and chews his lips.

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44th over: England 193-4 (Root 67, Stokes 13) The pink ball shines in Starc’s hand like a giant highlighter, his arms gleaming with Brisbane sweat. He gets one to bounces nastily off the seam at Stokes. England seem to have decided to wait him out.

Hello Will Juba!

“A short one from me…

Root: an entire cricketing nation refuses to temp fate…

(Apologies in advance if I’ve just tempted fate)“

Hope that albatross is sitting comfortably on your shoulders?

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43rd over: England 191-4 (Root 66, Stokes 12) Two fours from Stokes off Boland’s over – one flashily through the slips – again I’m not sure they saw it – one tickled off the pads.

“If I were Alyssa Healy, I’d delete ‘Over, First’ from Mitchell Starc’s phone. But then again, I’m the jealous type. ...” Very good, Rowan Sweeney.

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42nd over: England 182-4 (Root 65, Stokes 4). The sun is now a ball of flames on the horizon and the floodlights have taken over. Root steadfasts out five balls from Starc and picks up a single off the sixth.

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Updated at 03.23 EST

41st over: England 181-4 (Root 64, Stokes 4) Boland ambles in – one from the over. With Brook’s wicket, Starc overtakes Wasim Akram to become the leading left-arm fast bowling wicket taker in history.

A wonderful email lands, (to be entirely accurate landed before Brook was out.) Hello Duncan Harte!

Greetings from Glasgow. This is all going suspiciously well at the moment. While I dream about a Root century, here’s a little something I hope could be of interest to OBO readers during the next break or at end of day…

The 2017 Ashes series might bring back painful memories for most England fans, but it will always have a special place in my heart. Sitting in a London curry house with four friends a few days before the First Test in Brisbane, talk inevitably turned to the cricket. We soon found ourselves running through the classic OBO playbook: themed best XIs, club cricketing mishaps, the summer of 2005, Jaffa Cake related debate and, of course, our predictions for the upcoming series.

Little did we know this idle talk would prove the start of an eight-year, delirious descent down the rabbit hole, as the five of us sought to perfect the ‘science of cricket prediction’. As we continued to send each other predictions across the series, a fiercely contested game with increasingly baroque scoring regulations gradually took shape. We became completely obsessed. Work deadlines were missed, marital harmony was tested to its limits, but life was never sweeter. We had a name for this addiction – one chosen in honour of that brutal Brisbane Test arena and the exquisite agony of watching our finely tuned predictions flounder like the England top order – “Gabbattoir”.

Fast forward to 2025 and we’re now into our fifth Gabbattoir series. It’s a game we’ve previously only ever played between the five of us, but over the years, others have expressed curiosity in joining the action. And so, a few months ago, we embarked on a hare-brained scheme to turn our project into something that could be enjoyed by the wider public. Those interested can now visit https://gabbattoir.com.

The principle is simple: the more accurate your daily prediction, the better your score. The reality is, you’re about to embark on a whole world of pain. You can learn more about how it all works in the ABOUT GABBATTOIR section.

The thought of fellow OBO readers forming their own Groups and taking delight in this strange thing we’ve created seems almost too much to hope for. It’s been a labour of love, it’s entirely free to play and it’s inspired by our belief that test cricket really is the greatest thing we’ve managed as a species so far.

We’d be over the moon if you could mention us.

Done! And I’ve got an inkling you might tickle a few OBO boxes…

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Updated at 03.23 EST

40th over: England 180-4 (Root 63, Stokes 4) I think we might have hit the witching hour…. Starc grins a wolfish grin as he strides giantly back to his mark. IT wasn’t a great shot from Brook – and incidentally Smith was shaking his head after taking that catch at slip – I don’t think he could see the ball. Stokes off the mark with four through the slips

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WICKET! Brook c Smith b Starc 31 (England 176-4)

A flamboyant drive, an edge – and the balls flies up and into Smith’s waiting paws. Two balls into Starc’s new spell…

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Updated at 03.18 EST

39th over: England 175-3 (Root 62, Brook 31) Both sides are wearing black armbands in memory of Robin Smith. Root nudges Boland off his toes to pick up a single, Brook sends his bat in flamboyant arc for another. Root is hit on the front pad from Boland’s last ball, Boland likes it, so does Smith, they review – it was in line but would have been bouncing over leg stump – and Australia lose a review.

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38th over: England 172-3 (Root 61, Brook 30) Green’s previous over went for nine and Brook is eager for more. He flashes at the first two balls and doesn’t connect, but connects to the last, flaying a wide one square to the rope. It’s a shot that reminds Michael Vaughan of Kevin Pietersen.

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Updated at 02.58 EST

Tanya Aldred

37th over: England 166-3 (Root 61, Brook 24) Thanks Martin! Well this is looking a lot more perky than when I rolled over in bed to hear 11-2. Root is 39 away from that which should be unmentioned and Brook is full of mischief. The ground is almost completely in shadow now and the sun hovers on the brow of the sky. A maiden from Boland.

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Updated at 03.18 EST

Martin Pegan

36th over: England 166-3 (Root 61, Brook 24) Cameron Green bowls the last over before drinks and Joe Root welcomes him with a punch straight drive back past the all-rounder to the rope. A full toss takes Root by surprise but he picks a gap wide of mid-off for three more runs. Brook ends the over getting away with an inside edge on to his pads as England keep their noses in front with 68 runs on the board for the loss of one wicket since tea.

Thanks a lot for following along to this point. After a dramatic start to day one at the Gabba, it has strangely taken on the form of traditional Test encounter. Tanya Aldred will take the ball from here and for what I expect to be the most intriguing part of the day… and night. Enjoy!

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Updated at 02.52 EST

35th over: England 157-3 (Root 52, Brook 24) Scott Boland replaces Doggett with a ray of light creeping across the striker’s end and Mitchell Starc back on the field. Cameron Green collects a defensive dab into the gully and inexplicably throws down the stumps. The England batters scamper through for a single that relieves the pressure on Root and Brook is immediately on the attack with a lofted slice to backward point for two.

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34th over: England 154-3 (Root 51, Brook 22) Neser with a neat over that only concedes two runs while Australia wait for the shadow to complete their journey across the Gabba outfield.

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33rd over: England 152-3 (Root 50, Brook 21) Joe Root reaches his 10th half-century on Australian soil with a single off a shorter ball. The 34-year-old is cruising along now after a shaky start and is halfway to that elusive Test ton. Mitchell Starc is off the field perhaps preparing for his third spell.

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32nd over: England 147-3 (Root 48, Brook 18) Root whips Neser away from outside off and through mid-on to the boundary as the runs keep flowing for England. Australia had already gone up with a shout for lbw but Neser started his delivery wide of the crease and it was heading too far down the leg-side after hitting Root on the pads. Still enough happening even as the pink ball is now more than 30 overs old.

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31st over: England 143-3 (Root 44, Brook 18) Doggett keeps digging the ball in short but is unable to truly test, let alone trouble, the England duo. Three singles in the over each coming from a controlled pull shot.

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30th over: England 139-3 (Root 42, Brook 16) Sublime wicketkeeping from Alex Carey almost sends Harry Brook on his way. The keeper is up at the stumps to Neser as Brook steps forward and attempts to ramp the quick. Carey whips the bails off but Brook has only just got his foot down behind the line. Not sure if Brook gets rattled by much, but that’s a reminder to stay closer to his crease.

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Updated at 02.20 EST

29th over: England 133-3 (Root 41, Brook 11) Harry Brook is off to a flyer as he takes the attack to Brendan Doggett as the Australia quick looks to test him off the back of a length. Brook clips a first boundary off his pads then steps back to slice another through point.

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28th over: England 123-3 (Root 41, Brook 1) England are in command with Crawley and Root keeping the scoreboard ticking over after lunch before the opener is undone off an awkward length from Neser. That’s the local quick’s first Test wicket in almost three years.

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Updated at 02.19 EST

WICKET! Crawley c Carey b Neser 76 (122-3)

Michael Neser gets the breakthrough as Zak Crawley attempts to pull a delivery that doesn’t bounce as high as expected as a bottom edge carries to Carey who is standing back again with the gloves.

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Updated at 02.07 EST

27th over: England 121-2 (Crawley 76, Root 40) Alex Carey is back in his usual position keeping from a distance to Brendan Doggett. Root wafts high at a bouncer heading down the legside and gets a tickle that takes the ball just out of a diving Carey’s left glove. Another close call for Australia but they have been unable to make the most of the fast start that Starc gave them. The runs are flowing too, with 23 put on the board in three overs since the break.

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26th over: England 113-2 (Crawley 74, Root 34) Michael Neser is the next bowler to take the ball after tea when Mitchell Starc might have been expected to return after resting across the break. Crawley hammers another boundary - his 11th of the innings - as he gets on the front foot and drives straight down the ground. Alex Carey is up at the stump while Neser is bowling at about 135km/h.

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Updated at 02.04 EST

A lot is going right for England at the Gabba right now, but Mark Wood was speaking with Channel Seven during the tea break and conceded that he is unlikely to be available for the third Test in Adelaide as he manages a knee injury that was operated on earlier this year.

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Updated at 02.04 EST

25th over: England 107-2 (Crawley 69, Root 33) Crawley picks up where he left off before tea with a pair of boundaries on either side of the wicket. The first comes off a crunching pull shot to take England past 100, then another past mid-off brings up the century stand.

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Updated at 02.04 EST

Zak Crawley and Joe Root return to the middle at the Gabba with England in control at 98 for two after 24 overs. The sting went out of the wicket – and perhaps the pink ball – as the afternoon session wore on, and England will hope to build on their positive start. Brendan Doggett has the ball in hand as he prepares to bowl to Root with an extra fielder now on the leg-side.

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A reminder that Nathan Lyon has been left out of the Australia XI for the first time in a Test on home soil since January 2013. Scott Lowe wonders if there might already be a tinge of regret among the home camp.

“Curious if this is the earliest in a Test that one team has come to regret its selection? Batters are set, pitch and ball are doing nothing, and intense heat. And instead of turning to their greatest offspinner, Aus have to rotate through Starc and four (!) right-arm medium fast bowlers.”

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Former England batter – and batting coach – Mark Ramprakash has also considered the impact of playing parts of this Test at the Gabba under lights, while putting the onus on the tourists to “win key battles”. England mostly did that across the latter hour-and-a-half of the first session.

Stuart Broad described them as a lottery but Australia’s outstanding record would suggest that actually the best team normally prevails, and skill should win the day. The question for England is whether they have it in them to dominate in relatively unfamiliar conditions, to win key battles at key moments and to take control.

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Zak Crawley and Joe Root have put together the sort of sensible partnership that England were lacking in their defeat in Perth. That may or may not be with a view to batting through the daylight hours and making the most of bowling under lights, or simply in response to a second-innings collapse that went a long way to costing the tourists the Ashes opener.

Simon Burnton has taken a deep dive into day-night Tests and why they loom as the future even as parts of the cricket fraternity – including Root – push back against their introduction to the five-day format, while also considering the impact of the pink ball.

But there is an inherent problem with a pink ball: around sunset the higher-frequency wavelengths of light become scattered and for a short time red light becomes dominant. This is why the sun, having appeared yellow all day, often looks orange or red as it sets. A number of academic studies have identified a change in the pink ball’s contrast polarity – the relationship between an object and its background – during this period. With all the red light around it becomes harder to see. The pink Kookaburra also swings more than their red version while new, so put a fresh one in the hands of a skilled seamer at the right time of day and havoc can ensue – particularly at the Gabba, where Brisbane’s humidity already helps swing bowlers.

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Tea: England 98-2

England recover from an all-too familiar horror start as Zak Crawley and Joe Root steer the tourists to 98 for two at tea. Pink-ball specialist Mitchell Starc did the early damage under the blazing sun with a pair of wickets in his opening two overs as both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were dismissed for a duck. Crawley bounced back from his own pair of ducks in Perth to reach an unbeaten half-century while Root made the most of being given a second life when dropped off the third ball of his innings to reach the break on 32 not out. The England duo have put together the longest partnership so far in the series, while Australia have been unable to turn to a specialist spinner to try to break up the 93-run stand after leaving out Nathan Lyon for the first time in a Test on home soil for almost 14 years.

24th over: England 98-2 (Crawley 61, Root 32)

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Updated at 02.04 EST

23rd over: England 94-2 (Crawley 57, Root 32) England survive another Mitchell Starc over as they shut up shop with the break now within reach. Crawley punishes the closest Starc comes to a loose delivery with a single off his pads.

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22nd over: England 93-2 (Crawley 56, Root 32) BEATEN! Joe Root attempts to drive on the up but fails to pick up the late movement as he grins sheepishly at his own dose of good fortune. Zak Crawley punishes a looser delivery that drifts on to his pads with a clip to the fine leg boundary. The opener is playing within himself but ends the over with 56 runs from 72 balls, and England are within sight of reaching the first break only two wickets down.

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21st over: England 86-2 (Crawley 50, Root 31) Zak Crawley reaches fifty for the 25th time in 110 Test innings as he answers the critics that came for him after a pair in Perth in the best possible way. The opener has only turned five of his half-centuries into a Test ton, but is looking more comfortable now that he has found a balance between defence and attack.

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Updated at 01.04 EST

20th over: England 84-2 (Crawley 49, Root 30) Cameron Green is thrown the ball for the first time today with Australia increasingly desperate for a breakthrough. It makes sense to mix and match the bowlers, and prevent the batters from getting into too much of a rhythm, with five pacers in the lineup - and no Nathan Lyon! Crawley smacks Green down the ground and Doggett makes a meal of the dive in front of the rope as he carries the ball into the boundary.

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Martin Burley in New Zealand has found a creative solution to what he dubs the “Crawley Paradox”.

“After Crawley gets a double century to win this Test, we should pocket our winnings and drop him before the inevitable string of single-figure innings that he’ll have in the rest of the series. However, if he loses his wicket soon, the smarter move would be to keep him in knowing that the one decent score he gets per series is still to come. Therefore, the better he does this Test the more justification for dropping him.”

OK, am I the only one whose head hurts?

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19th over: England 78-2 (Crawley 44, Root 29) Mitchell Starc returns for a second spell. He has already drawn level with Pakistan great Wasim Akram for the most Test wickets for a left-armer, but is unable to edge to the top of the list as Root drives for a single, and Crawley adds another through square leg.

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Cricket Australia has named the Australia A squad for the four-day match against England Lions at Allan Border Field from tomorrow – and Sam Konstas is the notable absentee. Beau Webster will get some game time after missing out on the opening two Ashes Tests, while Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson and Josh Philippe have been recalled. Nathan McSweeney will captain Australia A side for this fixture.

Australia A squad: Nathan McSweeney (capt), Beau Webster, Campbell Kellaway, Cooper Connolly, Fergus O’Neill, Jhye Richardson, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Ryan Hadley, Todd Murphy, Xavier Bartlett.

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Updated at 00.47 EST

18th over: England 76-2 (Crawley 43, Root 28) DROPPED! Crawley goes straight down the ground and lifts another drive in the air. But Boland is unable to settle his hands in time to claim a tricky catch. They’re always tough when the ball goes back to a fast bowler, but Boland all but had two hands to that one. Both batters have now been put down off tough chances as the unbroken partnership grows to 71 runs.

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Updated at 00.42 EST

17th over: England 71-2 (Crawley 39, Root 27) Doggett has found an awkward line and length as Root is happy to leave anything he isn’t forced to play at. But when the second-Test bowler drifts onto his pads, Root takes an easy single to fine leg.

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16th over: England 70-2 (Crawley 39, Root 26) Root let fly with a cracking straight drive back over Boland’s head and to the rope. The Australia quick ends the over bowling at a nagging length as Crawley almost dabbles at a straight ball outside fifth-stump before pulling out at the last second.

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Brian Withington joins the discussion over the value – or otherwise – of Zak Crawley.

“Did Steve Hudson forget to include ‘stupidly magnificent’ in his list of Crawley epitaphs? It’s certainly not dull, and I’d forgive him a patchy career average for one or two match-defining innings this winter [and not of the Perth variety].”

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15th over: England 65-2 (Crawley 39, Root 21) Doggett gets the ball to jag back into Root and the appeal goes up for lbw. There has been plenty of bounce at the Gabba and that was sailing over off-stump. Doggett saves a couple with some sharp fielding off a straight drive. Root clips a single off his pads to end the over.

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14th over: England 64-2 (Crawley 39, Root 20) Zak Crawley reaches wide and flashes at a wider ball outside off-stump. Most batters would leave that while England are comfortably rebuilding their innings, but that is the way that Crawley likes to play. Just one wide – which wasn’t any further away from Crawley than the one he swings at – from the Boland over.

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13th over: England 63-2 (Crawley 39, Root 20) Brendan Doggett continues for Australia as he nudges 135km/h. Joe Root picks up the pace quickly and guides a straight ball through cover for three runs.

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Zak Crawley divides opinion about as much as any current-day cricketer. The England opener has been near his best today at the Gabba as he settles into an innings and gets his cover drive flowing. But an average of barely more than 30 across 60 Tests is hard to ignore. Steve Hudson is prepared to sit back and enjoy Crawley for what he is.

“It sounds like Crawley hasn’t compromised his approach despite all the criticism England have had after the first Test. I can’t decide whether this is magnificent, or stupid, or magnificently stupid. We shall see.”

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Mitchell Starc has done the damage for Australia with two wickets in his first over-and-a-half, and heads to the drinks break with figures of two for 21 from five overs. The left-armer is at the peak of his powers at the age of 35 – a number not lost on Will Ellen.

“In a probably futile effort to step above the fray, isn’t there something admirable about modern day sports science? The way it allows us to admire sportsmen and women late into their 30s? In the recent past, a fast bowler of 32 would be just about ready for the proverbial glue factory. But at nearly 36, Mitchell Starc is at the absolute peak of his career. He’s never bowled better.”

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12th over: England 58-2 (Crawley 37, Root 17) Joe Root does well to dig out a yorker from Scott Boland – it seemed to take the batter by surprise. The England No 4 finishes the over with a textbook off-drive to the boundary. That might be the shot of the day so far and brings up the 50-run partnership before the players take a break for drinks. An entertaining first hour was almost worth the 12-day wait between Tests.

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Updated at 00.16 EST

11th over: England 51-2 (Crawley 36, Root 11) Brendan Doggett takes the pink ball and the England batters will be relieved to see the back of Mitchell Starc for now. The left-armer heads to the rooms for a breather. Root picks up an easy three with a controlled cut shot, and Crawley finds the same with another well-timed drive.

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10th over: England 45-2 (Crawley 33, Root 8) Australia rise as one in the hope that Zak Crawley has nicked a loose pull shot on the way through to the keeper. The ball is high and wide of offstump as it flicks the pad on the way past and Steve Smith has no interest in a review. Boland is testing the England pair but their blossoming partnership is now out to 40 runs.

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Updated at 00.14 EST

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