Ashes 2017-18: 1st Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

The Ashes series started off with an even day for both the teams as England made 196/4 in the possible 80.3 overs after electing to bat first. The new pair of Mark Stoneman and James Vince made fifties tackling the Aussie attack but both fell in a quick session and their captain Joe Root too followed scoring only 15 runs. The rain at the Gabba after lunch resulted in a one and half hour delay as the play ended ten overs short of the scheduled 90 overs even after extension.

Here are the stats and numbers from the opening day of the Ashes 2017-18:

5 – Number of times Alastair Cook opened in the first innings of the opening Test of an Ashes series. These are the joint most by any player along with Mark Taylor. However, Cook took the opening guard only twice in those five instances.

15 – Runs Joe Root scored in the first innings. These are the 4th fewest he made in the first innings in the first match of a Test series. He scored four and two against New Zealand and Australia in the first innings in the first match of the away series in 2013 and bagged a duck in the opening innings of the home series against Sri Lanka last year. On the 18 occasions where Root batted in the first innings in the first match of a series including this game, he has 1407 runs at an average of 87.94 with six centuries and three fifties.

78 – Number of consecutive Test matches Tim Paine missed for the national team since his last appearance in October 2010. These are the joint most number of Tests any Australian player has missed along with Brad Hogg who missed 78 games between 1996 and 2003.

125 – The 2nd wicket partnership stand of 125 runs between Mark Stoneman and James Vince is higher than the highest stand England had in the Ashes 2013/14 in Australia. England had only one century stand during the disastrous tour, a 111-run partnership for the 3rd wicket between Kevin Pietersen and Joe Root in Adelaide.

1903 – The last instance when an England pair of Ashes debutants sharing a century stand in Australia before Stoneman-Vince was way back in 1903. Tip Foster and Albert Relf shared a 115-run partnership for the 9th wicket.

1986 – The Stoneman-Vince stand is the first century stand for England on the opening day of an Ashes series in Australia since 1986. Mike Gatting, the then England skipper, shared a 111-run stand for the 2nd wicket with Bill Athey.

1989 – Mark Stoneman and James Vince making their Ashes debut and batting in top three is the first instance for England since 1989 where two of their top three batsmen were making their Ashes debut. Michael Atherton and Martyn Moxon batted in the top three in 1989 Nottingham Test. Both of them bagged ducks while Stoneman and Vince scored fifties.