For those of you listening overseas, here is today's Test Match Special link, external.

Enjoy!

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at Edgbaston

Cloudy skies at Edgbaston.

“You English get some luck, don’t ya?” says Jason Gillespie.

There’s talk we might be about to get a morning shower.

BBC Sport has joined up with The Grade Cricketer for this Ashes series.

If you're unfamiliar with their work, Sam Perry and Ian Higgins are - by their own definition - two former Sydney grade cricketers who have a satirical take on cricket across the globe.

Today, here's their analysis of what Australia learned about Bazball.

Huw Evans

JC in Hailsham

Matt A in Peckham

Another big question that I'm sure will be answered at some point today is whether Ben Stokes will bowl during this series.

In previewing day two, Sir Alastair Cook expects so. And he doesn't expect him to hold back, either!

Jake Eadon: I really have no idea on today's quiz, so I'm sure I'll be out at the first attempt. Reminiscent of my short-lived village cricket career! I'm going for 55.7.

JethroCat: I'm going to guess 69.7.

In case you missed it, here's a reminder of today's quiz question: Australia’s opening pairs have struggled in the last two Ashes series, averaging 14.7 per partnership (8.5 in England in 2019, and 21.5 in Australia in 2021-22). Take a guess – to one decimal place – at what Australia’s average Ashes opening partnership from was over the previous 30 years, from 1989 to the 2017-18 series?

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at Edgbaston

Don’t get too excited, England fans - there’s a fair while until the first ball. But we have woken to cloudy skies in Birmingham. It could be a bowling morning…

Part of Ben Stokes' thinking behind his declaration may have been the weather forecast for the next few days.

But as for today, it looks pretty safe in Birmingham - with sunshine throughout the afternoon.

Fingers crossed for another full day's play. My colleague Matthew Henry will be at Edgbaston shortly, and can give us a report from the scene.

George in Waltham Cross

Matt

Meanwhile in The Australian, Peter Lalor leads with "Bazball breaks the shackles".

Lalor looks at how Stokes and McCullum have revitalised England since the Covid-impacted 2020-21 series.

"Few did as many soul destroying quarantines as sports people. You could mount a case that the Australian players’ rejection of Justin Langer as coach – and it was not all players – was in some way informed by a need to free themselves from ways they saw as proscriptive and restrictive.

"You could mount an even more compelling case that the England team, driven to the point of madness by an intense schedule during those years, craved change even more."

Time for a bit more from the back pages, this time from Australia.

In The Age, Daniel Brettig assesses how Australia coped with England's new-found approach at the first time of asking.

"The striking image of the day was not so much any single piece of memorable play, although of those there were several. It was the sight of Australia’s fielders haring around the Edgbaston outfield, trying and sometimes failing to save boundaries, prevent twos or take catches.

"England have proven they can maintain this tempo for the whole series; it will be a considerable physical and mental challenge for Australia to keep up."

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at Edgbaston

Andy Zaltzman tested today’s quiz question on me over a Korean meal last night. The one thing I’d say is, remember how good some of Australia’s openers were in the 90s. The likes of Chris Rogers were pretty good too.

Bill

And here's how you can share your answers with us - or any other thoughts, updates, where you're following from.

We always want to hear from you!

You can tweet us using #bbccricket, text us on 81111 (UK only - texts charged at standard message rate) or via WhatsApp on 03301231826.

Get those guesses in!

Now it's time to get those brains whirring on a Saturday morning.

Every day during these Ashes series, men's and women's, TMS stats man Andy Zaltzman will be posing a question for you all to answer.

And here is today's offering:

Warner and Khawaja survived four testing overs after Stokes' day one declaration – the earliest ever declaration in the opening innings of an Ashes Test in terms of fewest balls bowled before the skipper waved his players in.

Australia’s opening pairs have struggled in the last two Ashes series, averaging 14.7 per partnership (8.5 in England in 2019, and 21.5 in Australia in 2021-22). Take a guess – to one decimal place – at what Australia’s average Ashes opening partnership from was over the previous 30 years, from 1989 to the 2017-18 series?

And some house rules from the man himself:

If you get it within one run either side, award yourself six runs. If you are within three runs either side, stand in front of a mirror, wave your arm from side to side, and give yourself four. Within six runs either side, you score two; within twelve either side, a single. If you are wrong by more than 20, you're out. If you cheat by looking it up, you receive an automatic five-question ban from future quiz questions.

BBC Test Match Special

And if you needed just a bit more to keep you in the Ashes spirit, you can catch up on the Test Match Special podcast here.

Llive coverage will resume on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds from 10:00 BST.

I wonder how many more moments we'll have that will make us react like this today.

And the Telegraph joins in with the Joe Root love!

Image source, The Telegraph

Let's take a quick look at what the papers said about England's day one antics.

Unsurprisingly, there's quite a lot of Joe Root love out there.

The Mirror says the Ashes "lives up to pre-match hype", while the Daily Express keeps it simple with "Joe's a genius".

Image source, Daily Mirror

Image source, Daily Express

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at Edgbaston

Image source, Getty Images

If New York is a city like no other, the Ashes is cricket's day in the Big Apple.

The smells are familiar. We've seen tall buildings before. Everything is just on a whole new level.

It starts before anyone else arrives.

The wise commentators, the former captains and legends, raise their brows as they pass in the corridors - a look that says "here we go" without needing to speak.

It has been there all night. That feeling in your stomach, part excitement, part dread, part nervousness - a feeling yet to be named.

Read more here.

If you need to catch up on what happened yesterday, it was all about Joe Root and Ben Stokes' stunning declaration.

Root's masterful unbeaten 118 pulled England from 176-5 to 393-8 when Stokes executed the earliest first-innings declaration in Ashes history.

Root added 121 with Jonny Bairstow, who crunched 78 in as many balls, and coaxed valuable lower-order contributions from Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson.

All this after Zak Crawley, who batted beautifully for 61, got the series off to an explosive start by hammering Pat Cummins' first ball of the day through the covers for four.

Australia will resume on 14-0 this morning.

Read more of our Chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt's day one report here.

Image source, Getty Images