Ashes: Day 1 Play Abandoned After Pat Cummins' Dream Captaincy Debut

Australia captain Pat Cummins made a cracking start to his captaincy stint with a five-wicket haul as the hosts skittled out England for just 147 on day one of the first Ashes Test at The Gabba here on Wednesday.

On a green pitch and overcast sky at The Gabba, Australia made inroads in the first session after England opted to bat first.

Mitchell Starc struck with the very first delivery, clean bowling Rory Burns around his legs. Josh Hazlewood caused more misery on England, drawing edges off the bats of Dawid Malan and Joe Root to be pouched by Carey and David Warner at first slip, respectively.

1st #Ashes #ENGvAUS Test - Day 1 Belongs To Australia
Scorecard @ https://t.co/kpiAzJu4Ny pic.twitter.com/3jKMivx6zW

— CRICKETNMORE (@cricketnmore) December 8, 2021

Ben Stokes, playing his first competitive cricket match since July, fended a rising delivery from Cummins to Marnus Labuschagne at third slip. Though Pope and Hameed lifted England to safety till lunch, neither of them could go on for long as Cummins and Co. kept them under 150.

Cummins struck in the very first over after Lunch as Haseeb Hameed nicked to Steve Smith at the second slip. Jos Buttler hit some exquisite boundaries to lead the attempt of a fightback with Ollie Pope, sharing a 52-run stand for the sixth wicket.

But it didn't last long as Starc cramped Buttler for room, forcing him to nick behind to keeper Alex Carey. Three overs later, Pope departed, top-edging to fine leg, giving Cameron Green his first Test wicket.

From there, Cummins took over to take out England's tail quickly and wrap up an insipid batting effort from the tourists. After England were bowled out for 147 on the stroke of the tea interval, heavy rain began to fall.

When the rain eventually stopped, umpires Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker adjudged the light to be too poor for Australia to begin their first innings. Play will begin 30 minutes early on Thursday. 

Brief scores: England 147 all out in 50.1 overs (Jos Buttler 39, Ollie Pope 35, Pat Cummins 5/38; Mitchell Starc 2/35) vs Australia.