Australia Vs England, 1st Ashes Test, Day 1 Highlights: Ben Stokes Dismantles AUS Batters| AUS - 123/9 ENG - 172

Greetings and welcome to everyone joining us this Friday morning for what should be a riveting day of cricket. Australia are hosting England in Perth for the first Test, and all eyes are on the pitch and conditions before the toss. We will get you up to speed up with all of it.

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England have won the toss and have opted to bat first against Australia 

Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland

England (Playing XI): Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood

Steven Smith:
Smith admits he would’ve batted first too, hoping the morning offers plenty of movement. He expects the Optus cracks to come into play later, as they usually do, and believes early discipline with the ball can make a real dent. He acknowledges the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood but backs the replacements, praising Scott Boland’s reliability and Brendan Doggett’s strong Shield form. A quick joke about his improved coin toss technique rounds it off, even if the call didn’t go his way this time.

Ben Stokes:
Stokes says England were clear about batting first, especially at a venue without much Test history. He feels the long Ashes build-up has sharpened the squad’s focus, and the goal for the tour is well set. From the named 12, Gus Atkinson misses out, with England opting for four seamers and Stokes chipping in when needed. He’s buzzing to unleash Mark Wood and Jofra Archer together, noting Wood’s hard work through injury and the hunger across the entire group as their campaign finally begins.

Mitchell Starc draws first blood in just the opening over, Crawley nicks off to Khawaja for a six-ball duck, and Starc lets out a full-throated roar. England rocked early.

Scott Boland replaces Starc and gets to work straight away, finding that teasing late movement England dreaded. Ben Duckett gets England going with a nudged single despite being squared up, but the next ball is a beauty, full, shaping away, and beating him on the drive. Ollie Pope walks in as the new batter, with Boland already asking serious questions.

Mitchell Starc goes searching again and finally leaks his first runs of the morning. He overpitches on off, and Ollie Pope is all over it, a neat lean into the drive, threading it past mid-off. It looks like it might run all the way, but the chase is sharp and they drag it back just inside the rope. Three for Pope, England breathing a little after that early jolt.

Mitchell Starc is at it again, and this time he nails Ben Duckett dead in front. Full, swinging in, Duckett plants himself on the crease and gets beaten for movement. It looks stone-dead immediately, but he has a quick chat with Ollie Pope and decides to roll the dice with a review.

Snicko shows fresh air. Then ball-tracking pops up, three reds. Smashing leg stump. Duckett’s gone for 21 off 20, and England burn a review with him.

Worth noting: that brilliant stop from Cameron Green the previous ball forced the strike to flip, tiny moments that turn into wickets in a heartbeat. Starc is on a tear here, and England are wobbling already.

Mitchell Starc is tearing straight through England, and now he’s knocked over Joe Root for a duck. A skiddy back-of-a-length ball on leg straightens wickedly, splitting Root open as he tries to ride it with an open face. Instead, he feathers a thick edge to third slip.

Marnus Labuschagne goes low, the ball pops for a split second, but he keeps his hands tight to the body and clings on. Root walks back for 0 off 7, and Starc’s sitting on a three-for in his first spell. England are in deep trouble already.

A partnership brewing between Ollie Pope (35*) and Harry Brook (11*) after initial carnage by Mitchell Starc. This partnership holds the key for England and they would not want to lose another wicket in this session.

Veteran off-spinner and Australia's 2nd highest wicket-taker has been brought into the attack by Steve Smith. It's not seldom when we see spinners bowling in the first session of play in Australia. Let's see how it unfolds for Australia.

Struck on the pads and given by Nitin Menon. That's a huge blow for England, Ollie Pope who was looking the most comfortable batter on crease has been trapped in front of wickets by Cameron Green. Pope goes for the review with the hoping it could have gone down the leg.

Snicko shows negative for Pope, impact in line, pitching in line and hitting is umpire's call. That's it, Ollie Pope is Out! He could have survived if the umpire had given it not out but it wasn't meant to be today for Pope and England lose their 4th wicket it.

Ben Stokes lets it go and that's the end of the first session. Australia completely dominated the first session courtesy of the magnificent first spell by veteran Mitchell Starc who three key top batters of England including Joe Root who was the mainstay of the English batting line-up.

The post lunch session started with a bang as Harry Brook takes Boland for 8 runs in the over with a smacking six over deep extra cover followed by a double. We have an exciting session at our hands if Brook keeps going on like this.

Bowled! Mitchell Starc bamboozles Ben Stokes with a scintillating in-swinger shattering his stumps. Starc gets his fourth of the day and England loses half their side inside 25 overs.

England have lost half their side but still the run flow is brisk as Jamie Smith and Harry Brook have kept the intent up and are getting boundaries at regular intervals. Australia responds to the aggressive play and have kept in and out field positions to slow down the flow of runs.

Appeal by the keeper, Umpire nods his head in denial but Steve Smith has gone for the review. England on edge as it's a very big wicket in the context of the match.

There's a spike on the snicko just as the ball passes through the gloves of Harry Brook and it's out. Harry Brook goes and 6th down for England.

It's getting worse for England as they lose their 7th wicket. Back-to-back wickets for Australia and Starc is getting his fifth. He has been the mainstay of Australia's bowling attack for years and has been the wrecker-in-chief today also.

The England innings is falling apart as they lose their 8th wicket in the form of Brydon Carse (6). Just a ball before Carse was hit on the helmet by Doggett, still took on the next delivery but only managed to hit it to the deep square leg fielder.

Two consecutive wickets for Mitchell Starc and with this England's 1st innings comes to an end. Mitchell Starc rips through the English batting line-up and the last four wickets of England just felt like a pack of cards. Bazball is entertaining but what we witnessed today was one of the major downsides of it as there was some senseless hitting at the end by England.

Australian innings is underway as England got out cheaply for 172 but Usman Khawaja is not the opener this time. Marnus Labuschagne is opening the innings with Jake Weatherald. Khawaja who was out of the field for some time couldn't manage to spend enough time on the field for which he was out so he's not in as an opener.

That's a big appeal and not out given by the umpire as the batter is on the ground because of the impact of the ball. Ben Stokes went upstairs with the appeal. That's an interesting call.

No bat on it certainly, as shown by the snicko. Pitching in line, impact in line and hitting, that's Out! What a review by Ben Stokes and it's the perfect start for England as debutant Jake Weatherald departs, gets LBW in the first over by Jofra Archer.

After playing 4 maiden overs on the trot, Australia finally managed to get runs on the board after 28 dot balls with a single by Steve Smith followed by a beautiful on-drive by Marnus Labuschagne.

Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are tackling the England pacers with utmost caution as they are not taking unnecessary risks and trying to leave as much balls as possible on a spicy pitch.

The players are walking off the field for a well-deserved tea break. It was a riveting session where England lost wickets in cluster to get bowled out for 172. Australia on the other hand also lost debutant Jake Weatherald in the first over of the innings for a duck. Since then Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have been able to negate the potent English fast bowling line-up quite well.

The players have come out for the 3rd and final session of the day. Till now the day has been dominated by the bowlers and it is expected to play the same in this session also.

Bowled! Jofra Archer strikes again. The English bowlers immaculate line and length finally got them the wicket they desperately wanted. The in-form Marnus Labuschagne departs as the rising delivery from Archer hitting Labuschagne on his arms and deviates to his stumps sending him back to the pavilion.

Edged and taken at slips! England gets the big fish as Brydon Carse bowled a beautiful length getting Smith to play it and the ball took the edge of his bat straight the the 2nd slip fielder. England clawing their way back into the game now with three big wickets.

Usman Khawaja Gone and another one bites the dust for Australia. The ball rose sharply off the wicket taking the shoulder of Usman Khawaja's bat on the way to Jamie Smith's gloves. The match hangs in balance now as Australia's top order collapses cheaply.

The English bowlers have been relentless with their line and length, not giving many opportunities to the Australian batters to score. It's a pitch that will get easier as the match progresses which is why England would love to take the lead in the game to have an upper hand over Australia, who'll have to bat 4th on this wicket.

Cameron Green (15*) and Travis Head (20*) are standing strong against England bowlers on a vicious pitch. Both the batters have already added 38 runs for the 5th wicket partnership and are still going strong.

Ben Stokes breaks another partnership just like he always does for England. Just like it was looking like the batters are settling on this pitch, Ben Stokes comes and gets the important wicket of Travis Head.

It was a short delivery and Head leaned on the back foot to play over mid-wicket but wasn't able to time it well and played it straight into the hands of Brydon Carse.

Cameron Green Gone! England skipper Ben Stokes chips in with another wicket, this time of Cameron Green who was looking good on the crease. It was an over pitch delivery baiting Green to play at it and he took the bait which eventually resulted in his downfall.

Ben Stokes gets another and Australia loses another batter. The man with the ball, Mitchell Starc departs. It was a full delivery by Stokes and Starc tried to play it above the mid-on fielder but couldn't manage to get under the ball and played it straight into the hands of Brydon Carse.

Ben Stokes struck twice in the over first got the well-set Alex Carey and then got Scott Boland caught at slips. Australia are now on backfoot with 9 wickets down.

That's the signal from the umpire and its officially the end of a riveting day's play completely dominated by bowlers with 19 wickets falling. AUS are 123/9 at stumps and are still 49 runs behind END's 1st innings score.

The pitch at the Optus Stadium in Perth for the 1st Ashes Test that had 19 wickets falling on Day1 sparked some reactions from reactions on social media from ex-Indian cricketers and cricket commentators Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin.

That's a wrap of the Day 1 of the 1st Test between Australia and England. We'll be back tomorrow with Day 2, so stay tuned.