First Ashes Test – Australia vs England: Live updates

The Ashes series gets underway on Wednesday 8 December 2021 at the Gabba in Brisbane from 02:00 (SAST).

Follow the action right here with live score updates from the first Test between Australia and England.

Ashes: Live scores

Match preview

A new era beckons for the hosts under the leadership of Pat Cummins, who will be keen to make a great first impression when they take on England in the opening game of the Ashes in Brisbane.

Cummins will be the first fast-bowling captain to lead Australia since Ray Lindwall in 1956. He will be in the company of the same bowling line-up that wreaked havoc the last time England travelled Down Under, with that series ending 4-0 in favour of the Aussies. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon have all been named in the first Ashes XI.

READ: Three KEY battles that could decide the Ashes!

Behind the stumps, Alex Carey is set to don the gloves in the absence of Tim Paine, who is currently on an indefinite break from cricket after a sexting scandal ended his tenure as skipper. 

David Warner, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne will form the spine of Australia’s batting lineup. Smith, in particular, has a tremendous Ashes record, with 2800 runs and 11 centuries against the arch-rivals.

Australia name XI

Australia have already named their playing XI for the first Test, with Marcus Harris, Travis Head and Chris Green completing the XI along with the aforementioned names.

England, on the other hand, have kept their cards close to their chests. They have named a 12-member squad for the first Test that sees Jonny Bairstow and James Anderson miss out.

England’s decision to bench Anderson is down to workload management as they want to keep him fresh for the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.

The tourists’ batting will be heavily dependant on their captain, who has been in a league of his own in 2021. Having amassed 1455 runs in 12 matches, Joe Root is the only Test player across the world to have aggregated more than 1000 runs this calendar year.

The visitors’ biggest worry is the fact that their next most prolific batter this year, Joe Burns, has scored more than 1000 runs lesser than their skipper. The return of Ben Stokes is going to be a massive boost, but only time will tell if the lack of game time for the talismanic all-rounder, who last played a competitive match in July, will prove to be costly.