Australia take the lead in the Ashes after another England batting collapse

A 162-run partnership between Joe Root and Dawid Malan was not enough to stop Australia from taking a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series as the hosts won by nine wickets in Brisbane.

Four wickets from Nathan Lyon took the game away from England as the spinner reached 400 wickets in test match cricket and moved to number three in the all-time list.

The day began with Travis Head continuing his form from the end of day two as he brought up his 150 with a slog sweep against Jack Leach. That delivery summed up Leach’s match as he conceded 102 runs off just 13 overs.

Head and Mitchell Starc put on a partnership of 85 before Chris Woakes and Mark Wood took the final wickets to bowl Australia out for 425 with Head finishing on 152. It gave the home side a mammoth lead of 278 runs as they posted their highest Test score at home since 2020.

Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns survived the first eight overs of the second innings to make it to lunch but did not last long after that.

Pat Cummins came out firing after the break and he managed to force an edge from Burns and Alex Carey continued his brilliant debut with the gloves as he caught the opener behind.

Hameed looked to push back against the Australian attack as he hit two fours in three balls against Starc, but the bowler had the last say. The final ball of the over clipped the handle of Hameed’s bat and Carey caught another one behind the stumps.

Root and Malan then stepped up and steadied the ship for the visitors before giving the Barmy Army some hope at the end of the day.

They killed off the Australian momentum before they went on the front foot as the bowlers began to go through the motions to end the day. Both batters reached their half-century before the end of play and brought up the first 100-run partnership of the series for England.

The Three Lions were only 58 runs behind with eight wickets in hand going into the fourth day and had all the momentum in their favour. However, early wickets proved to be the downfall once again for Root’s side.

Lyon’s 400th wicket was Malan as he edged it onto his pads and gave an easy catch for Marnus Labuschagne waiting in close.

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Root only lasted 14 balls longer as Cameron Green took his second Test wicket. Both Root and Malan failed to even reach the 90-run mark as all of their hard work was undone before Australia had even taken the new ball.

The collapse continued as Ollie Pope also fell to Lyon before Cummins got the better of Ben Stokes, taking the game completely away from England.

The wicket of Woakes was the last involvement of Carey as he caught the all-rounder out and tied the record for most catches by a wicket-keeper on debut with eight.

Lyon took out tail-enders Ollie Robinson and Wood as Australia were set a target of 20 to win the first game.

Carey and Harris came out to finish the game as David Warner was rested for the next game. Robinson did pick up the wicket of Carey but Harris finished the job on the very next ball to secure an impressive nine-wicket victory and restore some pride at The Gabba.

It was the perfect start to Australia’s new captain, Cummins, as his side finished the fixture with a day to spare.

The second test begins on December 16th at the Adelaide Oval with James Anderson and Stuart Broad expected to be recalled into the side.

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