England’s Ben Stokes made a surprise declaration that ended England’s innings on 393 for eight and left Australia’s openers with an awkward 20 minutes to see out at the end of the first day of the Ashes series. England’s Jonny Bairstow had no idea that Stokes was considering the declaration. The declaration caused chaotic scenes in the dressing room. Australia’s openers successfully negotiated to reach 14 without loss.
Bairstow scored 78 off 78 balls in his first innings for England since the serious leg injury he sustained last year and, together with Joe Root, dragged England from a perilous position of 176 for five to 297 for six. Root ended the innings unbeaten on 118 and hit two sixes off Nathan Lyon in the over before the declaration.
Bairstow – who found balance after some initial nerves – did not sense the declaration coming. He said: I’m sure he had a couple of conversations with Brendon [McCullum] and the bowlers, but one of them was out in the middle so there can’t have been too many people who knew about it and I definitely didn’t. It was a scramble to get the tape on, the pads on and the rest. But when you’re not expecting something, sometimes it’s the best form of attack. We come back tomorrow with a ball that’s four overs old, a fresh bowling attack and a team that’s really looking forward to the challenge.
Josh Hazlewood, who felt Australia were successful in countering England’s aggressive batting, stated: It’s good to play [against] a different brand of cricket, although I don’t think we got dragged into it as much as we could have if things went really south. We’ll learn throughout the series, but we’ll stick to what we’ve been doing the last two years – it’s obviously working.
For Bairstow, scoring runs on the home Ashes series is a milestone achievement. There was excitement at being back on the big stage, at the big dance, playing in a home Ashes series. You remember those tricky times you went through, the dark days when the sun goes down at half three. Those times are the ones you look back on and think, I’m pleased I did the graft to enable me to be back in this position, out there in the middle in the first Ashes Test and having a bit of fun.
