OLIVER HOLT: Crawley kicks off Ashes with thumping first ball four

OLIVER HOLT: A hush of anticipation, a hint of apprehension – then the crack of ball on bat like a gunshot… Zak Crawley’s first ball boundary gave England an Ashes start to rival Steve Harmison’s wide in 2006

• England made 393-8 on day one of the Ashes, with Australia 14/0 in response
• Zak Crawley thumped the first ball of the match through cover for four
• It was an Ashes start to rival Steve Harmison’s massive wide in 2006 

It was quiet when Pat Cummins, Australia’s captain, walked back to his mark and prepared to run in from the Pavilion End to deliver the first ball of the 73rd Ashes series. The Hollies Stand was not yet refreshed and raucous. There was a hush of anticipation.

The first ball of the Ashes is one of the great rites of sport. Sometimes, what happens can set the tone for what is to follow. Sometimes, when the odds are stacked against one team or the other, it can feel like the chronicle of a death foretold.

It was like that in 2006 when Steve Harmison thundered in from the Stanley Street End at the Gabba in Brisbane to bowl the opening ball of the first Test at Justin Langer.

Harmison was nervous. His hands were sweaty. The ball flew so wide of the stumps that it went straight to Andrew Flintoff at second slip.

Everyone who was inside the Gabba that morning — everyone — knew in that instant that Australia were going to win the Ashes and that it was going to get ugly for England.

Zak Crawley got his Ashes off to the perfect start as he hammered the first ball through cover for four

The England opener made a classy 61 before being dismissed by the last ball before lunch

His aggressive start took apart the myth that Australia would expose Bazball 

Australia were heavy favourites anyway but that ball was a symbol of a team that knew they were going to get wiped.

It was the same in 1994. That time, it was Phillip DeFreitas running in from the Stanley Street End and bowling short and wide to Michael Slater, who cut it away majestically through point for four. And it was the same in 2021, when Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns behind his legs. That was the first ball, too.

So when Cummins ran in to bowl at Zak Crawley, there was anticipation at Edgbaston but there was also a hint of apprehension. The narrative that Australia had spread was that they were the team who would expose Bazball — England’s brave new world of attacking cricket — as a self-indulgent myth.

Cummins’s delivery was a little wide and overpitched and Crawley did not hesitate. He stepped into the ball and in the hush of the moment, the crack of the ball on his bat sounded like a gunshot.

The ball hurtled merrily away through extra cover and rushed to the boundary. Now, the Hollies Stand found its voice in a glorious roar of acclamation. This is how it feels to watch the tables turn on a tormentor. This was Bazball in its purest form.

This was cricket that never takes a backward step, cricket that does not hesitate, cricket that plays the ball not the occasion, cricket that does not wait, not even for the first ball of the most eagerly awaited series on these shores for nearly 20 years.

The cameras picked out Ben Stokes, the joint architect of Bazball, in the pavilion at the moment Crawley smoked that ball to the boundary. Even Stokes’s mouth fell open underneath his blue bucket hat.

He turned to his right, with a look of amused amazement on his face, and stared at the England team doctor, Glen Rae, who was still laughing and applauding Crawley’s drive. Moments like that are the whole point of Bazball.

The opener’s cracking first shot summed up Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ England revolution

He was dismissed with the last ball before lunch, but by then the point had been made

England now have an Ashes start to rival Steve Harmison’s famous wide in 2006

Stokes had insisted throughout the build-up to this match that England would not compromise their new approach just because this was the Ashes and this was Australia. Here, now, in one shot, was the proof of it.

It would be nice to think it will set the tone for the rest of the series. It certainly set the tone for the day. Initially, that meant intimidating Australia into uncharacteristically defensive field placings. The third slip disappeared midway through the second over and never returned. And the presence of a deep extra cover for Crawley and Ben Duckett said a lot about the contrasting approaches of the two teams.

Australia put four men on the boundary, sweepers on the onside and the offside. It was the cricket equivalent of parking the bus.

Many expressed disappointment and surprise that Australia had reacted so negatively. In the commentary box, former England ODI skipper Eoin Morgan said Australia had blinked first. Crawley’s first-ball boundary and all the intent it signalled seemed to have spooked Cummins and his side.

There were times during the day, of course, when momentum swung and Australia seemed to be getting the upper hand. Losing Harry Brook and Stokes in quick succession in the session after lunch was one of those spells. But England never lost their intent. 

They did not lose their ambition or their desire to entertain and attack. The echoes of that opening shot from Crawley lasted throughout the day.

They were there in some of the sumptuous drives that took Crawley to his half-century. They were there in Joe Root’s reverse scoop for six that took England’s score past 250. 

They were there in Moeen Ali’s audacious pull of Cummins for six over deep square leg and in another Root scoop off Cummins that cleared the ropes and took him to 89.

The echoes of Crawley’s first shot could be seen as Joe Root hit two reverse scoops for six

They were there again as Moeen Ali cracked Pat Cummins for six over deep square leg

It didn’t always work, though, as Jonny Bairstow ran past a ball from Nathan Lyon and was stumped for 78

And, yes, the echoes were also there in Jonny Bairstow dancing down the wicket to Nathan Lyon, swinging and missing, and getting stumped. And they were there in Moeen trying the same trick with Lyon later in the afternoon and meeting the same fate.

But that is the thing about the philosophy of Stokes and England coach Brendon McCullum. That is the thing about Bazball. It is about the empowerment of risk. It is about ridding England players of the fear of failure. It is about taking on Australia right from the start.

It is about taking the memories of first-ball nightmares from the Gabba and turning them into Australian nightmares instead, setting the tone for an Ashes series by crashing the first ball, from Australia’s captain and best bowler, away for four.

Australia will always have Harmison’s wide and Slater’s four but now England have Crawley’s boundary — and the hope that it will be the harbinger of glories to come.

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