Ashes 2021-22: Analysis of Day 3 of the First Ashes Test at the Gabba

Partnership building: Joe Root and Dawid Malan have become just the 14th English pair to bring up a century partnership at the Gabba in Test cricket.

The last century partnership at the venue by an English duo was between James Vince and Mark Stoneman in 2017.

They then became just the fifth English pair to bring up a partnership of 150 runs or more, sparking memories of the 2010 Ashes Test where Alastair Cook combined with both Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott for massive partnerships in the third innings.

It is the fourth century partnership between Root and Malan. They also combined for a 133-run partnership at Sydney in the 2017-18 Ashes series.

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ASHES MATCH CENTRE: LIVE SCORES, STATS, COMMENTARY

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Root’s record-breaking run: Looking beyond Joe Root’s duck in the first innings, the England captain’s recent record suggests he has improved his record in Australia substantially.

In his previous three innings, Root passed 50 on each occasion. He has also scored a half century in five of his last 10 innings dating back to the start of the 2017 Ashes series. However, as has been well-documented, he is still yet to score a Test century in Australia.

Root also brought up a big personal milestone on Day 3, becoming just the eighth man to score 1,500 Test runs in a calendar year. Two Australians have achieved the feat (Ricky Ponting - twice and Michael Clarke). He becomes the first Englishman to reach the mark.

The record for most runs in a calendar year is held by Pakistan’s Mohammed Yusuf who scored 1788 runs at an average of 99.33 in 2006.

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TEA: England 147 & 2-107 (Malan 35*, Root 26*, Cummins 1-29) after 36 overs trail Australia by 171 runs

Malan knuckles down: Every time that Dawid Malan has faced more than 80 balls in a Test innings he has gone on to pass 50. However, in 31 Test innings, he has only achieved the feat eight times.

Of the eight times he has faced more than 80 balls in an innings, four of them came during the 2017 Ashes series against Australia.

His batting average when facing more than 80 balls in an innings sits at 70.13.

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Lyon’s milestone struggles: Nathan Lyon’s quest for 400 Test wickets continues on Day 3 at the Gabba as he searches for the breakthrough. It’s clearly a figure that has been slightly on his mind.

Since bringing up his 390th Test wicket against New Zealand at the SCG in 2020, Lyon has only taken nine wickets in his next five matches (including this one). His average throughout the last India home series and now the first Test at the Gabba sits at 58.55, considerably higher than his career average of 32.19.

His strike rate has also more than doubled to 134.6 in comparison to his career strike rate of 64.6 balls per wicket.

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Cummins’ post-lunch treat: Pat Cummins has produced a brilliant ball to dismiss Rory Burns in the first over after lunch. He used the Gabba deck to get a ball to bounce up and surprise Burns, flicking his glove and Alex Carey took a good catch behind the stumps.

Cummins loves bowling in the second innings at the Gabba. Although his career Test bowling average sits at 21.08 after Burns’ dismissal, in second innings efforts at the Gabba, his bowling average is 12.50.

It is also the scene of his best bowling figures when he took 6-23 against Sri Lanka in their second innings in 2019.

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LUNCH: England 147 & 0-23 (Rory Burns 13*, Haseeb Hameed 10*, Hazlewood 0-4) after eight overs trail Australia (425) by 255 runs.

Burns’ unusual beginning: After being undone by Mitchell Starc with the first ball of the first innings, Rory Burns walked out to the Gabba on Day 3 knowing a king pair could await. However, to avoid the scrutiny he took the unusual step of handing over the strike for the first ball to Haseeb Hameed.

In the 264 times Burns has opened the batting in first-class cricket, only four times has he not faced the first ball of the innings. Fair to say Mitchell Starc has gotten into his head early.

Burns survived an LBW appeal which the umpire gave out but the DRS review showed it was going over the top of the stumps. Very lucky to escape the pair.

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Head finally departs: Travis Head has brought up his 150 and finally fallen as Australia were bowled out for 425 in their first innings. The total is still below their average first innings score at the Gabba since 2000 but puts them in a dominant position with a lead of 278 runs over England.

For Travis Head, he finished on 152 off 148 balls with his third Test century and the second time he passed 150. It was also the first time in Test cricket (32 innings) that Head has finished his knock with a strike rate above 100 (102.70).

Australia’s tail is largely to thank for their dominant position. After a collapse threatened, the last four wickes put on 189 runs.

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Lyon’s unwanted record: Nathan Lyon remains the holder of an unwanted record in Test cricket as the player with the most runs without a half-century.

Lyon was dismissed by Mark Wood for 15 on Day 3, taking his total to 1116 runs in Test cricket with a top score of only 47. West Indies bowler Kemar Roach sits one place behind Lyon with 1,042 runs.

Other notable names on the list behind Lyon include Courtney Walsh, Waqar Younis, Steve Harmison and Makhaya Ntini.

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Starc’s batting resurgence: Mitchell Starc has always been more than capable with the bat in hand, however in the last three years he has taken real pride in his wicket.

Since the start of 2019, Starc now averages 30.90 with the bat, well up from his career average of 22.54.

In the same period, only four of England’s batters have had a higher Test batting average - Joe Root (48.59) and Ben Stokes (43.94), Ollie Pope (33.78) and the man who took the catch to dismiss him, Rory Burns (32.43).

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Australia’s Gabba dominance: A lot has been made of Australia’s stellar winning-record at the Gabba, which India upset this year by becoming the first touring team to win at the venue since 1988, however that platform has consistently been laid by phenomenal batting performances.

Since 2000, Australia averages a total of 446 runs in their first dig at the Gabba. Only twice in that period have they been dismissed for less than 300. Even in the Test they lost earlier this year to India, they recorded 369 in the first innings.

With Travis Head and Mitchell Starc looking comfortable early on Day 3, there’s every chance Australia reaches that average first innings total and push their lead over 300.

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State of play: Australia start Day 3 on 7-343 with a lead of 196 thanks to a phenomenal century by Travis Head. He and Mitchell Starc remain unbeaten and will look to push Australia’s lead towards 300 as England’s bowlers search for quick wickets. England will be sweating on the fitness of Ben Stokes and Ollie Robinson who both looked to be hampered by injury towards the end of Day 2 but both look set to be fine for the rest of the Test.

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