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braydon carsey enjoyed England captain ben stokes Turning on “Beast Mode” Australia England’s bowlers made a brilliant comeback on the first day of the first Ashes Test.
On a pitch dubbed the “Green Monster” by Perth’s local newspaper, Stokes chose to bat first and saw his team all out for 172 in less than 33 overs.
with Mitchell Starc His career-best performance of seven wickets for 58 runs proved to be another worrying chapter in England’s poor form.
But their five-strong pace attack flipped the script with a brilliant display of pace and hostility, restricting the hosts to 123 for nine and taking a lead of 49 runs at the end.
It was thrilling, unforgettable theater and in its closing moments, Stokes thrust himself center stage.
He has given his heart and soul to regain full fitness after suffering a shoulder muscle injury against India in August and claimed five wickets for 23 runs in a six-over spell.
After Carse and Jofra Archer shared the first four Australian wickets, he dismissed Travis Head, Cameron Green, Starc, Alex Carey and Scott Boland in the space of 30 balls.
When their game ended, the number of wickets taken that day stood at 19 – more than on any opening day of Ashes cricket since 1909.
Supporting his captain’s intervention, Carse said: “Ben Stokes, look, he is amazing.
“You know his character and his resilience is everything that this team strives to be and it was obviously game-changing magic that season.
“I think Ducky (Ben Duckett) made a comment the other day that he’s been in a dangerous position since coming to Australia and he absolutely deserves it. The way he runs through brick walls for this team is something that everyone sees.”
Stokes was one of many who faltered with the bat, being dismissed by Starc for just six between bat and pad, but his contribution with the ball and his inspirational leadership demonstrated his ability to make an impact even on the biggest occasion.
His words after England’s disappointing first innings performance – a fast-paced tour that depended on Harry Brook’s ultra-aggressive 52 and Ollie Pope’s strong 46 – gave his team confidence that their heavy artillery pace attack could do them serious damage.
They hunted aggressively as a group, with the wicketless pair of Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood being as important as the scalping trio.
“Stokesy said, ‘Let’s smash the wicket hard’ get as much as we can out of it. He kept it very simple,” said Carse, who picked up the prized scalp of Steve Smith and frightened Usman Khawaja with a poor lifter.
“We had 45-50 minutes before tea and he said to the players with the ball, ‘Just give it everything’. The way Gus and Joffra started was phenomenal. We carried it on in the last session as a group of five seamers. I thought we were quite relentless.
“It’s been an incredible day of Test cricket, I think everyone who came to watch today was thoroughly entertained.”
Starc played a strong innings in the absence of injured fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, dismissing Zak Crawley for a duck in the first over and also dismissing Joe Root without scoring for his 100th Ashes wicket.
“My role in the team is to go in search of wickets,” he said.
“I think it’s going fast, it’s going fast. With 19 wickets in the day we often say it’s the wicket or the batting, but I think both teams bowled really well.
“England have obviously come in with extra pace and a five-man attacking approach. Obviously that extra air-speed is going to cause concern.”