Ashes 2021: All-round Australia thrash England by 9 wickets in first Test

Nathan Lyon, skipper Pat Cummins, David Warner and Travis Head were the standout performers as Australia defeated England by nine wickets in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba, Brisbane on Saturday.

Chasing 20, Alex Carey (9) and Marcus Harris (9*) made light work of the chase and the hosts registered victory in just 5.1 overs.

Pat Cummins had taken five wickets in the first innings while Lyon scalped four in the second for Australia. With the bat, Head scored a century for the hosts while Warner had registered 94 runs in the first innings.

Australia draw first blood in the #Ashes series with an emphatic nine-wicket victory!#AUSvENG | #WTC23 pic.twitter.com/waKIiE9315 — ICC (@ICC) December 11, 2021

Earlier, Lyon and Cummins got among the wickets as Australia inched closer to victory against England on Day 4. England was bowled out for 297, setting a target of just 20 runs for Australia to win the Gabba Test.

Resuming Day 4 at 220/2, England got off to a horrendous start as Dawid Malan (82), Joe Root (89), and Ollie Pope (4) were dismissed in quick succession and England was reduced to 234/5 in the 78th over. With the wicket of Root, Lyon registered his 400th wicket in the longest format of the game.

400 of the very best from Nathan Lyon! 

He becomes the 17th player to achieve the milestone in men's Test cricket, joining Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as the only other Australian players #Ashes pic.twitter.com/hbdIjXVr6F — Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) December 10, 2021

Ben Stokes (14), Jos Buttler (23), and Ollie Robinson (8) also failed to stay at the crease for a long haul and England was reduced to 286/8 in the 98th over. Soon after, Lyon clean bowled Mark Wood (6) and in the end, England was bundled out for 297, setting a target of just 20 for Australia to go 1-0 up in the series.

Brief Scores: England 147 and 297; Australia 425 and 20/1 (Alex Carey 9, Marcus Harris 9*; Ollie Robinson 1-13).