The Ashes 2023: Opening day lives up to hype and promises more

Just as Jonny Bairstow was finishing speaking to the media at the end of an enthralling opening day of the Ashes series, he was interrupted by a voice coming over the speakers.

"Attention, please. Attention, please. We ask for your patience with the refund system."

Whatever was being refunded, it was surely not the price of a ticket, which was worth every penny to a raucous Edgbaston crowd. If this is what is to come over the next five Tests, the 2023 Ashes series will be an instant classic.

England piling up 393-8 at more than five runs an over was made all the more compelling by Australia's attempts to contain them, but that was nothing compared to Ben Stokes' jaw-dropping declaration half an hour before the close.

One day in and the most hyped Ashes series in a generation has started by more than living up to expectations. Where on earth do we go from here?

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All the build-up chatter had been about England and their attempt to Bazball the Australian attack. How Australia might deal with England was an afterthought.

But Pat Cummins showed his hand even before Zak Crawley crunched the Australia captain's first ball of the series for four, a moment that will go down in Ashes history if England go on to win (although anyone watching replays in 20 years will wonder why Stokes, watching in the dressing room, was wearing a bucket hat).

The deep point fielder posted on the boundary for the very first ball of the day was a sign of things to come. Rarely less than three men back, often four or five. If Cummins could have done, he would have had a boundary-rider in Balsall Heath and a sweeper in Sparkhill.

On the one hand, it was un-Australian. Not fighting fire with fire, but trying to avoid it by diligently completing a risk assessment. On the other, pragmatism can be seen as a sign of strength, having enough confidence in your team to adapt to the situation.

It did mean Travis Head and Nathan Lyon were chosen to spend pretty much all day on the fence, closer to the rowdy England fans than their own team-mates.

Head got serenaded for dropping an admittedly tough chance off Harry Brook, Lyon the subject of a rude comparison with Moeen Ali from the Hollies Stand.

Both will go to sleep with Edgbaston ringing in their ears.

Was it successful? As ever, these things only reveal themselves in the fullness of time.

However, the facts are this. England took 54 singles in the first session, the most ever recorded in the history of Test cricket. Australia didn't manage a maiden until the 37th over of the day and bowled only one more.

The run-rate of 5.03 was England's second-fastest in a total of more than 300 against Australia, beaten only by the first-day 407 on this ground in 2005. Even on a pitch that looks flat, 393-8 is a healthy total.

Perhaps a scheme cooked up in Brisbane did not bear fruit in Birmingham.

Mike Tyson famously said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Australia were ready for the punch, but left themselves open to having their bellies tickled.

Joe Root knows a thing or two about Ashes plans after three series captaining England against Australia.

In 2017-18 he went down under without Stokes because of the Bristol incident. In 2019, Root watched James Anderson limp out of the series after bowling only four overs.

Eighteen months ago, with England frazzled because of the Covid conditions, they picked neither Anderson nor Stuart Broad on a Brisbane green-top, won the toss and batted, then never recovered.

Now, freed from the shackles of leadership, Root peeled off his first Ashes hundred since 2015 in virtuoso style.

No doubt he was helped by the passiveness of the Australians, who forgot Root has built one of the all-time great one-day careers on knocking the ball into gaps created by fielders pushed back to the rope.

When he arrived at the crease before lunch he was greeted with more gaps than a politician's explanation.

His first 30 runs contained only one four, but he was perfectly set to drag England from danger when they found themselves 176-5. Even then, Australia refused to bring the field up.

It was Root who played the first proper Bazball shot of the innings, a reverse-scoop off Scott Boland in the 53rd over. It went for six. He reached 100 off 145 balls and whacked 18 off his next seven.

At that point, Stokes made his breathtaking intervention, a declaration after 78 overs the earliest in a first innings in Ashes history and third-earliest ever by England.

The earliest, by the way, was three matches ago in the day-nighter against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui.

If we were surprised, then perhaps we have not been paying close enough attention. Repeatedly Stokes tells us of his commitment to doing whatever it takes to entertain, discomfort the opposition and win in the swiftest fashion.

Was it entertaining? You bet. Was it what the opposition wanted least? Neither David Warner nor Usman Khawaja will have been comfortable facing those four overs at the end of the day. Winning quickly? The Birmingham weather looks in danger of being soggy from Sunday onwards.

But, most importantly, was it the right thing to do? When Stokes called them in, Root and Ollie Robinson were punishing a tired Australian attack.

Some 153 runs had been plundered in the 25 overs after tea, 37 in the four before the declaration.

Would it have been better to continue to flog the sun-sapped Australians for the remainder of the day and possibly even into the second morning? Something towards 450 sounds nice, doesn't it?

Even questioning Stokes is tantamount to heresy. It is decisions like these that have helped England to 11 wins in their previous 13 Tests. He got it right in Mount Maunganui and against Pakistan in Rawalpindi before that.

If it does not work here, he will rightly or wrongly shrug his shoulders and commit to doing the same thing all over again.

Australia face the prospect of some fine batting conditions on Saturday. England can look forward to some hard yakka. Although the pitch seems like a featherbed now, there is a suggestion of low bounce and turn.

Surprisingly, Cricviz data shows that, of the five Ashes venues, Edgbaston has offered the most turn on the fifth day of Tests played since 2018. Moeen could have a big role in his comeback match.

The famous first days etched into Ashes lore are framed by what came afterwards.

Michael Slater hitting Phil DeFreitas' first ball for four in 1994, Steve Harmison's wide in 2006 and Rory Burns being bowled by Mitchell Starc in 2021 all set Australia on the path to victory.

Less remembered are England being rolled by Glenn McGrath on the first day at Lord's in 2005 and Andrew Strauss' third-ball dismissal in 2010-11, both series England won.

Mike Atherton's team steamrollered Australia for 118 on the opening day of the 1997 series at Edgbaston, but then lost 3-2.

The opening day in 2023 was sensational, but put us no closer to knowing the result.

It did prove, however, that finding out will be a fabulous ride.

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