Twitter Reactions: Pat Cummins shines on captaincy debut as Australia dominate Day 1 of Ashes opener

What a start for Australia in Ashes 2021-22 and what a start to Pat Cummins’ captaincy career! Day 1 of the opening Test was entirely dominated by Aussie bowlers as England got skittled out for 147 while batting first at the Gabba in Brisbane. Making his captaincy debut in the clash, Cummins breathed fire with the red cherry and took the sixth five-wicket haul of his Test career.

Speaking of how the day panned out, the coin landed in England’s favour, and Joe Root elected to bat first. However, the English batting line-up couldn’t justify the decision and suffered a massive failure. Left-arm speedster Mitchell Starc set the tone for Aussies, dismissing Rory Burns for a duck on the very first ball of the game.

Australian speedsters too hot to handle for England

While Haseeb Hameed showcased some resistance and scored 25, no other batter from top-order could make a mark. In fact, skipper Joe Root, the highest run-scorer in Test matches this year, also bagged a duck. After Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Cummins also joined the party and took wickets for fun. As a result, the visitors got reduced to 60/5 and many didn’t back them to even reach the three-figure mark.

However, Ollie Pope joined forces with wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and the duo tried to spice up the contest. The duo added 52 runs for the sixth wicket as England crossed the 100-run mark. However, Australia again gained command after the duo got dismissed in quick intervals.

While Chris Woakes did well to slam a valiant 21, the rest of the English tail couldn’t do much. England’s last wicket was Cummins’ fifth in the innings as the visitors got folded for a paltry 147. Meanwhile, rain and bad light after affected play on Day 1 as the Aussies couldn’t come out to bat. Hence, only 50.1 overs were bowled on Day 1.

Needless to mention, the hosts are firmly in command at the moment and would like to dominate England on the second day as well. As far as England are concerned, the bowlers must take a leaf out of Australian team’s book to restrict the Aussies for a low score.

Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitterati reacted to proceedings on Day 1 in Brisbane Test: