What a day — and only one day — in England’s bid to reclaim the Ashes.
After 14 years of mostly painful tours of Australia, one day of dominance is worth celebrating. Memories of 2013 linger: England began that series buoyant, Stuart Broad famously arriving with a copy of the Brisbane Courier-Mail tucked under his arm, only for Mitchell Johnson to rip the hosts apart and England to be thumped 5-0. Broad and Johnson offer useful context for Friday in Perth: two Ashes legends, two very different bowlers. Broad’s craft and movement produced huge success for England, but it was Johnson’s terrifying pace that wrecked them in Australia. Pace matters here — and in Perth Ben Stokes’s team brought the heavy artillery.
Nineteen wickets fell on the opening day — the most on the first day of an Ashes Test since 1909 — and England go to sleep with a 49-run lead, one Australian tailender to dismiss and the chance to set a match-winning target. England’s tour planning has not always succeeded — four years ago a London-selected XI struggled in Brisbane and the team stuck to a blueprint unsuitable for conditions — but this time the strategy to hit Australia with pace has been in preparation since the 2023 home Ashes. It is why James Anderson was effectively pensioned off in 2024: England set out to assemble their quickest group for an Ashes tour in more than 50 years, and their first sight in action was shock and awe.
The day began like a festival on the Swan River — ferris wheel, inflatables, cricketers on stilts, tourists and selfie-taking England fans. What followed was a rollercoaster. England’s first innings folded to 172 in 32.5 overs — the shortest first innings of an Ashes Test in Australia for 123 years — a Bazball lowpoint, though the intent to take on Mitchell Starc and score quickly was clear. When England’s bowlers hit top gear the scoreboard sometimes froze in disbelief: the attack’s collective average speed was 87.6mph, the fastest day of England bowling in Test cricket.
Stokes, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse were hostile, accurate and relentless. Michael Vaughan, who captained the bowling unit in 2005, called it among the highest-quality fast bowling he’d seen from an England side. Some dismissals were spectacular: Jake Weatherald left flat on his face when an Archer delivery trapped him lbw; Carse produced a venomous lifter to uproot Usman Khawaja; Wood’s bouncer struck Cameron Green on the grille and almost knocked him onto his stumps.
Australia were repeatedly put on the back foot — for much of the innings two-thirds of deliveries were played from the back foot, their most since such data began being collected nearly 20 years ago, and their false-shot percentage hit 35%, the highest in the same period. Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in captain and the most prolific Ashes batter since Don Bradman, was worked over. He faced 49 balls for 17, with a false-shot percentage of 49% — reportedly the highest of his career.
A major strength was England’s depth in pace options: five front-line quicks in the attack, the first time they have done that in a red-ball Test in Australia since 1998. The story is made richer by the obstacles each man overcame to be on the field. Few would have expected Archer back in Test cricket after four years of injury struggles; he’s only three matches into a comeback that began in the summer yet already looks like one of the world’s premier quicks. Wood was playing only his second Test alongside Archer — returning after 15 months out and a couple of months shy of his 36th birthday — and he immediately resumed delivering thunderbolts. Carse was serving a ban for historic betting offences little more than a year ago. Atkinson began his professional career amid the tragedy of his mother’s death in a road accident. And Stokes returned to the city where his legend was born.
Twelve years ago, a 22-year-old Ben Stokes announced himself in Perth with a back-to-the-wall century against Johnson on a Waca surface famously cracked and fierce. Australia has not seen the best of him regularly since; his peak Ashes moments have been at home. This tour offers a different chapter. In this Test Stokes made his return after a shoulder injury kept him out of the final home Test and claimed his second five-wicket haul in as many Tests, his best away figures in 11 years.
Fast bowling has underpinned some of England’s most famous Ashes wins in Australia, and this group looks central to any hope of repeating that. There is, however, much to do: the match is far from over and England’s batters must contribute if a strong position is to be converted into victory. Australia will have Pat Cummins back for the second Test. A year ago India were bowled out for 150 in Perth, won that Test, yet still lost the series 3-1 — a reminder that single-match dominance can be fleeting.
This was just one day — but what a day.
