Wednesday 6 December 2017 10:36, UK
England crashed to a comprehensive 10-wicket defeat midway through the fifth morning at the Gabba as Australia took a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series.
Bob Willis reviews the first Ashes Test, giving his verdict on England's performance with bat and ball, Steve Smith's century and 'headbutt-gate'...
It's a headline England could have done without but it all seems to have blown over without any major repercussions for the tour. England are not taking any action and I think both parties just want to move on. It's a storm in a teacup really and both Cameron Bancroft and Jonny Bairstow seem to have ended up with smiles on their faces.
After the Ben Stokes incident the England players should be on their best behaviour and it's ridiculous that any player on the tour should find himself in a situation like that. Trevor Bayliss was obviously fuming about the situation and it's something he doesn't want to encourage among his troops. I think he will be having another firm word with them all!
I don't think there's anything really for the England camp to worry about, though. I really don't think we can say there's a drinking culture in the side, nothing like that. It seems to have been a one-off incident so I don't think there's any problem with it all.
There was a lot of talk about England's batting before the Test and I thought the three newest members of the side looked quite confident in the first innings, especially against the seam bowling. The problem was that Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan got out in exactly the same way in the second innings against Nathan Lyon. However, there are signs there that they, along with James Vince, are equipped to play Test cricket - but they do have to kick on and make bigger scores.
I still don't think England have got their batting line-up right at all. Both Bairstow and Moeen Ali should be batting above Malan in the order. Bairstow is arguably England's third best batsman after Joe Root and Alastair Cook and I feel he's wasted down at seven.
On Cook, everyone likes to start the theory strongly that he's on the decline but I don't have any particular concerns about him. We've seen him get out like he did in the first innings before. That can happen to any opening batsman. The second innings dismissal was very untypical of him but I think he'll be okay.
The preparation before the first Test match wasn't ideal. When I toured Australia we basically had a month of warm-up games against state opposition but now the games are against mediocre sides and it's not really proper preparation for a Test match. Cook will come good. He's very experienced and I don't think two failures in one Test match is a major concern for him.
Moving onto the tail, England's lower order was bombarded with short stuff and the way they played it, that will continue throughout the series. The guys are going to have to grit their teeth and find a way to either just survive or score runs against it because it's going to happen time after time when they come to the crease. It's very important that the England tail gets its act together because it has been a strong suit for them in recent series.
They've been able to help the likes of Ali and Bairstow or whoever it is batting at seven or eight to put some runs together down the order. It was embarrassing watching Jake Ball bat against the short-pitched ball. He just doesn't look like he'll get two runs let alone double figures.
The senior bowlers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, were fine, however, Jake Ball and Chris Woakes were totally ineffective. Neither could get the ball to move off the seam and had to resort to experimenting with the ball.
They were particularly disappointing and I thought Joe Root's captaincy was at fault after lunch on day three when the best two bowlers had to bowl. He started with Ball and Woakes and Australia got off the hook and away from England. I don't know whether Anderson had a major problem with his right shoulder or not but it was a major mistake if he didn't. That was the time to turn the screw and unfortunately Root didn't do that.
I don't think England need to make any knee-jerk reactions in terms of selection after defeat in Brisbane. They are fortunate that the next match is a day-night match with the pink ball. There will be very different conditions in Adelaide, where the Tests with the pink ball have all been over very quickly. There's a chance for England to get back in this series with bowlers that can swing and seam the ball. The tougher tests for this attack will come in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
I would have picked Craig Overton over Ball, who didn't look match fit, for the Brisbane Test match. With the ball set to move around in Adelaide, you have to give Anderson, Broad and Woakes the chance to redeem themselves but I didn't think Ball had much to offer at all. It would be Overton alongside Anderson, Broad and Woakes for me but if England come unstuck in Adelaide 5-0 is staring them in the face.
Looking beyond Adelaide, Mark Wood could definitely be drafted into the squad. The clear messages from the Brisbane Test is that England don't have any real pace in their attack and Nathan Lyon is a superior spinner to Ali. They were the two areas of the bowling that were lacking from England's point of view.
It was a top-class knock. If you take Adam Voges out of the equation, there are only three players who have averaged 60 in Test match cricket throughout its whole history. He is head and shoulders the best player in the world, which is amazing with his extraordinary technique but he never looks like missing the ball. England tried everything, bowling wide at him outside off stump, they tried bowling straight at him but he never seems to miss the ball.
He's so, so patient. He knew it was a five-day contest and wasn't worried about scoring 17 runs in a session or 30 runs in the next. He knew the responsibility was on his shoulders and he knew about the fragility of the rest of his batting line-up. It was one of the best Test innings I've ever seen and the contribution that tipped the scales in Australia's favour. David Warner and Cameron Bancroft took Australia home to a 10-wicket win on days four and five but it was Smith who won the match for Australia.
Steve Smith's innings was just about the perfect Test knock from one of the best players we've ever seen on this planet.
Root is up there right at the top of the tree with the likes of Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. He's got a bit of a problem at the moment with getting trapped lbw. The Aussies have done a lot of homework on him but I'm sure he'll sort it out.
At the moment he can't be compared to Smith, who is out on his own as the best player in the world. It's quite phenomenal the runs he churns out and the powers of concentration he has. His innings was just about the perfect Test knock from one of the best players we've ever seen on this planet.
The Australian pacemen were disappointed with the Brisbane pitch. There wasn't any real pace in the wicket and it was a good toss for Root to have won and England should have made a lot more runs in the first innings when the wicket was placid. They did hit their straps later on and showed what they can really do.
The bombardment of England's tail showed their intent. I thought they bowled really well as a unit. It's a tough ask to go into a Test match in searing heat and humidity with just three seamers and a spinner, but I thought their discipline was excellent. They were expecting the fastest pitch in Australia but they didn't get it and still managed to bowl England out twice to win the match comfortably.
On the other hand, England can get at the Aussie batting line-up. There's no one in the top order that's invincible apart from Smith. In the first innings I thought they bowled pretty well at Warner and they actually kept him pretty quiet at the start of the second innings. Unfortunately from England's point of view, Bancroft will have gained a lot of confidence by getting that not-out score to take Australia home. However, it's no special batting line-up and Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine still have big question marks hanging over them.
We move onto Adelaide where the game will be played with a pink ball and under floodlights and this is England's best chance of claiming victory. The disappointing thing about Brisbane was England's bowlers couldn't get the ball to do anything. The ball didn't particularly spin for Ali or Root whereas Lyon got it to turn and the Aussie quicks have more pace than England
However, under lights at the Adelaide Oval England have got a real chance to come back into this series, if their mindset is correct. If they do not perform in Adelaide and lose, then the prospects are really grim for England.
They definitely need to drop Ball and give Overton an opportunity at Adelaide. England have to be more ruthless with the ball. They have to come back firing hard at Adelaide otherwise the series could slip away very quickly. For Australia, they have two seam bowlers in reserve but if everyone reports in fit and raring to go, they will definitely go with the same line-up.
To be honest, I'm a little bit disappointed it's a day-night Test match because it makes it a bit of a lottery. However, on the face of things that could work in England's favour because on a flat pitch in the blazing sunshine and with a red ball they look to be struggling. Hopefully the pink ball, like it did against the West Indies last summer, may do the trick for England.
