Is Ash From Burning Wood Good For The Garden

After a breakdown in the broadcasting of the first Ashes Test normal service eventually resumed. England's meek collapse on the fourth morning in the face of a rejuvenated Australian attack condemned them to a nine-wicket defeat and a 1-0 series deficit heading into the pink-ball encounter in Adelaide.

As Marcus Harris and Marnus Labuschagne finished off a target of 20 runs in 25 minutes after lunch, the latter striding in after the fall of the promoted Alex Carey, it subjected England to their 10th defeat in their last 11 away Ashes Tests, handed Pat Cummins a first victory as captain and restored the Gabba's status as Australia's fortress.

They may have lost to India on the ground back in January, but England? This was a seventh victory over the old enemy in their last nine encounters in Queensland as part of an unbeaten Ashes record that stretches back to 1986. "Gabbattoir" references have thankfully been light over the past week but it still deals in butchery.

No wonder Cricket Australia was so keen to start this unique Ashes series on Vulture Street, despite the logistical issues thrown up by the pandemic and Queensland's hard border. That led to a lack of engineers and technicians on the ground, with the third umpiring technology reduced throughout and even the television pictures dropping out for 25 minutes during what proved the final morning.

As it happened, the gap in transmission did well not to miss a wicket on a morning that saw England lose eight of them for 77 runs in 33 overs, and bowled out for 297. This wasn't a rushing cascade of dismissals, rather the slow, inevitable decline of a batting lineup that has regularly crumbled all year. Once Dawid Malan had become Nathan Lyon's 400th Test victim on 82, and Joe Root edged a beautiful outswinger from Cameron Green on 89, resistance proved worryingly fleeting.

There is plenty for England to stew over during the next four days although the omission of both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad has felt overplayed in Australia. Anderson's preparation suffered a two-week delay at the start, meaning Adelaide was a sensible target, while Broad could only really make the XI if they played a five-pronged seam attack. Given Ollie Robinson's rapid ascent this year, the threat of Mark Wood's pace and Chris Woakes status as the only realistic No 8, one of four was unlikely.

Marnus Labuschagne and Marcus Harris were at the crease to seal Australia's victory. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Perhaps five seamers and bowling first was the play. It would have capitalised on the conditions, eased Ben Stokes the bowler into the tour and spared Jack Leach (13 overs, one for 103) being possibly hit out of the series already. Granted a shoddy over-rate that saw them docked five World Test Championship points and fined 100% of their match fees might have been worse, although even all-seam attacks should really be able to send down 15 overs per hour.

Even bowling second, the extra seamer might have sustained the pressure on the second evening when England reduced Australia to 195 for five, their lead just 48 by that stage. Instead with the underprepared front-liners leggy by this stage, and Stokes struggling for rhythm, Travis Head lit the afterburners with 152 runs from No 5 that continued the turmoil for Leach and swelled the eventual difference to 278.

Although dwelling on the attack also would also be ignoring an all-too-familiar sloppiness in the field - one that saw Rory Burns drop a dolly off Warner midway through his vital 94, and two run out chances go begging - and, most tellingly, their shortcomings with the bat.

Because whichever way the decision at the toss is argued, being rolled for 147 inside two sessions - sparked when Burns was cleaned up by Mitchell Starc's first ball - went a long way to sending the Test match on its path. Even greater intent on the fourth morning, after Root and Malan showed the way 24 hours earlier, could similarly have set up a possible first innings versus fourth innings contest.

Once again it comes down to a batting line-up that has been propped up by Root's remarkable form in 2021 and struggled to adapt to the bounce. Rain badly damaged England's pre-series work in Queensland, so too late arrivals from the T20 World Cup, but having to face deliveries that can climb 20cm higher than back home should not have surprised a side that has been talking about this tour for two years.

England's issues should not detract from what Australia did so impressively either, be it their collective ferocity on the opening day, the resolute stand of 156 between Warner and Labuschagne on the second, or the way Cummins regrouped his side after a challenging third. This saw England resume on Saturday on 220 for two, 58 behind, with Root and Malan eyeing centuries and Josh Hazlewood nursing a side issue.

Key here was the fall of three wickets before the second new ball, with the introduction of close fielders helping to end Lyon's 326-day wait for his 400th Test wicket when Malan danced down the pitch, edged onto his pad and ballooned a catch to silly mid-off. With Root undone by late movement from Green - his hunt for a first century on Australian soil thwarted at the 19th attempt - and Ollie Pope offering an injudicious cut shot to Lyon that flew to slip, England were 234 for five, still 44 runs in arrears.

Then came the blackout in pictures, during which time Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler managed to get themselves in against the new ripe Kookaburra, and chiselled the deficit down to 12 runs. But, as has so often been the case, Cummins delivered the breakthrough, some extra bounce twisting up Stokes like a pretzel on 14 as a catch flew to gully. When Hazlewood gritted his teeth to dismiss Buttler caught behind on 23, the tail could only nudge a slender lead while being summarily picked off.

Carey holding his eighth catch of the match to end the innings - Woakes the last man out off Green for 16 - equalled the record number of dismissals for a wicketkeeper on Test debut. The South Australian didn't quite get a fairytale finish of hitting the winnings, however, when he deputised to Warner up top.

"We couldn't find him," joked Cummins at the presentation when asked about Warner's absence with a rib injury. "We looked everywhere in the stadium. [But] we just didn't want to risk him and he will be alright for Adelaide." Whether England will be after their latest gutting at the Gabba remains to be seen.