England chose to bat first after winning the toss in Perth. The call matched the conditions. You must bat first on this surface. Ben Stokes followed that advice. The pitch uses the same soil as the old Waca. Stokes made his first Test hundred there 12 years ago. He knows how the cracks open. Teams rarely chase well on a pitch like this.
England carry flair in their batting, but the decision still brings back a dark memory. Four years ago in Brisbane, Rory Burns lost his leg stump to the first ball from Mitchell Starc. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett are stronger options than Burns and Hameed from that tour. But the pressure of the first ball of an Ashes series always weighs heavy on any opener.
Stokes confirmed that Shoaib Bashir is not in the team. England will field five fast bowlers.
Australia named two debutants. Jake Weatherald and Brendan Doggett received their caps in a team huddle. David Warner and Jason Gillespie were there for the moment. Weatherald is a bold left-hand opener. Doggett is a fast bowler from South Australia. Both are Indigenous Australians. This is the first time an Australian Test XI includes two Indigenous men.
Teams for the first Ashes Test
Australia: Khawaja, Weatherald, Labuschagne, Smith (c), Head, Green, Carey (wk), Starc, Lyon, Boland, Doggett
England: Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (c), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Archer
