'It obviously could have been much bigger day' - Marnus Labuschagne on Australia's performance on Day 1 of Manchester Test

Day 1 of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, Manchester saw some riveting action as arch-rivals, England and Australia continued their slugfest on the cricket field. Ben Stokes surprised cricket enthusiasts with his decision to bowl first after winning the toss. No team has won a Test at Old Trafford after opting to bowl first but the England captain believedthat his team could create history.

The tourists had three 50+ partnerships in their innings but England took wickets just when they were starting to look threatening. The away side ended Day 1 at 299/8. Australia's No. 3 batter Marnus Labuschagne came into the encounter on the back of indifferent form as he couldn't reach the 50-run mark in the series. The right-handed batter fought hard for his 115-ball 51 before he was dismissed by Moeen Ali. The likes of David Warner, Steve Smith, Travis Head, and Mitchell Marsh also threw their wickets after settling in.

Labuschagne lamented the fact that his team squandered a good chance to bat themselves into a position of dominance. However, he revealed that the pitch was difficult to score on, and they did well to get to where they are on the opening day of the penultimate Ashes Test.

"It's one of those. We're so close (to the urn), we've just got to take it day by day. Whenever you finish a day with a three in front of it, it’s never a bad day. It obviously could have been a much bigger day, we had six guys get themselves in and I think whenever you do that and one of your big guns doesn’t get a big score, you’re pretty disappointed, especially when you’re talking about guys getting in the 40s and 50s, so no one has gone on to get 60 to 80 even," Labuschagne told SEN Test Cricket.

“You add those 20 runs and all of a sudden it ekes out to close to 400 and that really puts a big dent in it. 300, I think that’s a really good score so far. I think there was a lot of grass on that wicket, it was quite thatchy, it was tough to score," he added.

Stuart Broad enters 600-wicket club

Stuart Broad became the fifth bowler and second Englishman to pick up 600 Test wickets. He achieved the remarkable feat on Day 1 when he dismissed Travis Head in the 50th over of the innings.

Earlier in the day, Aussie opener Usman Khawaja was the 599th Test victim for the 37-year-old Broad. The right-arm pacer joins legends like Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, and teammate James Anderson in the 600-wicket club.