01:51
Nannes: England’s bowling is Broad, Anderson and almost nobody
Australia 328 (Smith 141*, Marsh 51) and 0 for 173 (Warner 87*, Bancroft 82*) beat England 302 and 195 (Root 51, Bairstow 42) by 10 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
David Warner and Cameron Bancroft resolved to offer England’s toiling bowlers no crumbs of comfort in the closing moments of the first Test at the Gabba, as they eased Australia to a crushing ten-wicket win in just over an hour’s play on the fifth and final morning.
After resuming on 114 for 0 overnight, Australia’s openers resisted any temptation to gallop to the finishing line, with just 56 runs required and England’s players doubtless distracted by overnight headlines concerning Jonny Bairstow’s alleged altercation with Bancroft in Perth last month.
Both batsmen eased themselves back into the groove, seeing off another disciplined but unpenetrative burst from James Anderson and Stuart Broad before picking up their tempos against the second seamers, Chris Woakes and Jake Ball.
Ball did induce the day’s solitary half-chance, an edge off Bancroft that flew wide of Alastair Cook, the solitary slip, but it was left to Bancroft to strike the winning runs off Woakes, in a three-boundary fusillade in the first over after the drinks break. Moeen Ali was not called upon to bowl after struggling with a finger injury earlier in the innings, with Joe Root sending down two overs of offspin before the end.
Afterwards Root rued the moments in the match when Australia got away from England. “At 250-odd for 4, we were looking for scoreboard pressure,” he said. “It is frustrating but we have to move on quickly and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes at Adelaide. We’ve got to move forward as a group, because one thing that stands out for our team is our character.”
It was an anticlimatic end to what had been, for three and a half days, a gripping and hard-fought contest, and it was very similar – in fact – to the first Test of the 1990-91 series, also at the Gabba, when England were again crushed by ten wickets despite having held the upper hand at times in a low-scoring contest.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo @miller_cricket
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo