Australia v England: fifth Ashes Test, day one

15th over:

England 66-3 (Root 6, Brook 2) So, Harry Brook, what is your mood today? Skittish or super-skittish?

Facing Boland, he dances down the track to his first ball and then leaves it. To the second, he plays a loose drive and gets an inside edge. It could easily be his downfall, but he escapes down the other end. Boland beats Root on the inner edge and goes up for LBW. Smith thinks about a review before deciding, rightly, that it’s too high. Brook takes a quick single, benefitting from the more defensive field that his aggression has induced. There is some method in his madness.

getting brighter

One of the security guards standing next to the covers had his umbrella turned inside-out about 10 minutes ago and it is still very windy, but the rain appears to have largely stopped and the skies are looking a little brighter. No sign of the umpires just yet, nor the groundstaff. It remains to be seen if we’ll get back on today, but I wouldn’t be confident.

Joe Root and Harry Brook leave the field as bad light stops play•Getty Images
Nothing to see here. England The covers are on and the rain is coming down, with some dark clouds rolling through overhead and the flags on the pavilion rooftop buffeted by the wind. Host broadcaster Fox has flicked over to Otago Volts against Northern Brave in New Zealand’s Super Smash, which you can follow below. No rain in Tauranga this afternoon!

There has been lots of heat on Brendon McCullum over the past few weeks and the England head coach has been caught on Channel 7 looking at the back of his Times Quick Crossword book to check on a few answers. Fill in your own jokes about taking shortcuts after reading Vithushan Ehantharajah’s analysis of McCullum’s position.

Full covers on

It has been dark and gloomy for over an hour, and now the rain is arriving at the SCG. The full covers are on and there is some lighting in the surrounding area, which suggests we are in for a substantial delay. The groundstaff are hard at work bringing out extra sheets to cover the bowlers’ run-ups, and the crowd has disappeared into the concourses.

Yesterday was the 23-year anniversary of a famous Ashes innings, one memorialized with a bronze trophy at the SCG today. In 2003, Steve Waugh was captain of Australia and, after a lean run with the bat, under massive pressure to hold his spot in the side. I was there that day and recall the rapturous reception Waugh’s home crowd gave him when his time to bat arrived. I also remember Waugh being so determined to set his critics straight, he didn’t walk but run from the dressing room. Unfortunately he found a portly security guard waddling ahead of him in the player race leading to the field. Desperate to get onto the arena, Waugh whacked the guard smartly on the backside to clear the way – the first blow in a fabulous knock.

Good news: Umpires are on the field inspection the wicket. Bad news: it’s still raining at the SCG, albeit easing up a little.

Michael Peel is watching the rain in Sydney from rainy London and feeling reflective on the future of English cricket. “As I understand it, Bazball is about batsmen taking risks learned from shorter forms of the game to make it more exciting. It doesn’t need to go completely (though the name can), but must be used judiciously.”

Judicious:(def). having, showing, or done with good judgment or sense.

Unfortunately that’s not really the Baseball way is it? But after 11 days of headless choke batting led to yet another Ashes series shellacking, plenty of people agree with you, Michael. Will England coach and baseball architect Brendon McCullum keep his job when the ashes are sifted from the wreckage of this tour back home? Captain Ben Stokes is hoping so.

Australia have fielded a strange XI for this Test – no specialist spinner (Nathan Lyon is injured, Todd Murphy omitted) and two allrounders (the out-of-form Cameron Green and out-of-favour Beau Webster) while axing another allrounder of sorts in middle-order bat and short-form wicketkeeper Josh Inglis.

Of course with Usman Khawaja’s retirement after this Test, Australia could be in the market for an opener and/or a middle-order batsman. Could Jake Weatherald hold his spot as Travis Head’s opening partner? If so, do Australia need a specialist middle-order batter instead? Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting says yes and reckons 19-year-old Victorian allrounder Oliver Peake is the man most likely.

In 1936, John Scott, son of the late Guardian owner and legendary editor CP Scott, did something unheard of for a media heir: he gave up his stake for the greater good.

England After inheriting the newspaper, Scott renounced all financial benefit – bar his salary – in the Guardian (worth £1m at the time and around £62m today) and passed ownership over to the newly formed Scott Trust. The Trust would evolve to have one key mission: to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity.

Australia v England:

That means the Guardian can’t be bought. Not by private equity, not by a conglomerate, and definitely not by a billionaire looking for a political mouthpiece.

Our independence means we can say what we want, report on who we want, challenge who we want, and stand up at a time when others are sitting down.

But this unique model also means we depend on readers like you from India to help fund our work.England If you would rather the news you read was the result of decisions made by journalists and editors, not shareholders or ultra-wealthy tech bros, then, well, you know what to do: Support the Guardian on a monthly basis.

With rain converging on the SCG from the north and the west, the heavy covers are on and the crowd has retreated to the bars and pie carts under the cover of the revered old grandstands. However, it’s worth nothing that day one carries the worst forecast and although a sprinkle may yet appear tomorrow, days 3-5 are clear so we will see plenty of cricket in Sydney.

England will hope so. They are flying at 211-3 and look as ominous as they did in 2011-12 when Alastair Cook (189) and Ian Bell (115) and Matt Prior (118) led England to a massive 644 to snatch victory by an innings and 83 runs – their first Ashes win in Australia in 24 years and, until last week’s win in Melbourne, their most recent Ashes victory in Australia.

That game also marked Usman Khawaja’s Test debut.

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