Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood's late strikes helped Australia dent England's steady start on the opening day of the fifth and final Test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday (January 5). Opting to bat, despite overcast skies, Joe Root's England posted 122 for the loss of top-three wickets in an extended three-hour post-Lunch session to make up for the loss of overs early in the day.
Alastair Cook was greeted with a beautiful inswinging yorker by the returning Mitchell Starc while Mark Stoneman was beaten with a fuller one outside off stump by Josh Hazlewood on his very first ball of the morning. But runs started to flow once the sun broke through. While his senior partner seemed tad edgy at the start - despite notching up a double ton in just the previous innings - it was Stoneman who set the tone early on with a run-a-ball 24, laced with four beautiful boundaries.
Stoneman's joys were short-lived though with the hosts striking in just the tenth over to claim early advantage. Cummins gave Australia the opening but Cook and James Vince combined for a 60-run second-wicket partnership to not let Australia chip through the batting order. However, just as England seemed to be taking control, Australia clawed their way back to dismiss both the set batsmen in the final hour before the session break despite the pitch not offering much assistance to the pacers.
Stoneman and Vince's dismissals highlighted the issue that has plagued England all along this Ashes series - with the batsmen getting good starts but failing to convert it into a match-defining contributions. Cummins set up Stoneman with fuller length deliveries and followed it up with a short one. The ball came rising on him and the England opener gave away a faint edge to Tim Paine behind the stumps while attempting to block.
Vince undid all his hardwork in a momentary lapse of concentration in the over after the drinks break. Cummins once again got the hosts the much-needed breakthrough against the run of play. The English No. 3 chased a delivery short and wide outside off only to give the top edge behind the stumps, bringing curtains on his steady 54-ball stay in the middle.
Hazlewood returned into the attack three overs later and inflicted further damage with the wicket of well-set Cook. Steve Smith deliberated animatedly before challenging the on-field call as the bowler's loud appeal for lbw was turned down when Cook was batting on 39. Three reds, however, cut short the former English captain's patient knock five short of reaching 12,000 Test runs.
Root (16 not out) and Malan (16 not out) had their fair share of anxious moments but the pair saw England through to 122 for 3 at Tea without any further hiccups.
Earlier, rain frustrated for over three hours at the start of the day, consuming the whole of morning session. Inclement weather and a wet outfield delayed the toss by an hour, and eight minutes ahead of the rescheduled time the covers were brought on once again. In their bid to minimise the loss of play time, as rain continued on and off, early lunch was called at 12pm(local time) while the toss was pushed to 12:10pm and start of play to 12:40pm.
Brief scores: England 122/3 (Alastair Cook 39, James Vince 25; Pat Cummins 2-35) vs Australia.
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