Ashes 2017-18: 3rd Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

England started the crucial Test match in the Perth with a convincing performance on the first day’s play thanks to an unbeaten hundred from Dawid Malan (110*). Opener Mark Stoneman scored a gusty fifty surviving the bounce produced by the Aussie pacers before they were to 131/4. However, Malan shared an unbeaten 174 for the 5th wicket along with Jonny Bairstow (75*) to put the visitors on top at end of the day.

All the stats and numbers that were created during the day that England dominated:

1 – Dawid Malan became the first centurion for England in this Ashes series. His hundred is also the first in the last five Tests for England in Australia. Ben Stokes scored 130 in the 4th innings of the Perth Test in 2013 which was the only hundred recorded for England in their previous Ashes tour.

5 – Malan became the 5th England player to score maiden Test hundred at the WACA Stadium in Perth. Brian Luckhurst, Chris Broad, Jack Richards and Ben Stokes (in the 2013 tour) are the other four England players who scored their maiden Test ton at this venue.

8 – Alastair Cook became the 8th player in Test history and the first from England to feature in 150 Test matches. He completed this set in 11 years and 288 days while all other players needed over 14 years from their debut for playing their 150th Test match. At the age of 32 years and 254 days, Cook also became the youngest to appear in 150th Test. Previous record: Sachin Tendulkar got there in 35 years and 106 days

174* – Malan and Bairstow’s partnership for 5th wicket for England against Australia is the highest since the 206 between Dennis Compton and Eddie Paynter way back in 1936 in Nottingham.

305/4 – England’s total of 305/4 at end of the day is their highest total in the first innings in a Perth Test in the last 30 years. England posted 592/8 dec in the first innings of the 1986 Test match in Perth.

1966 – For the first time in 50 years that England managed to score 300 runs on the opening day of a Test match on Australian soil. The last instance of them scoring 300 runs on the first day of a Test in Australia was in 1966 Melbourne Test where their score read 312/5 at the end of the day one.

2006 – The last instance of an England batsman before Dawid Malan scoring a hundred in the first innings of a Test in Australia was in 2006. Paul Collingwood (206) and Kevin Pietersen (158) scored hundreds in the first innings of the 2006 Adelaide Test after electing to bat.