Cricket-England three wickets down as top order crumbles

England's Ashes campaign began disastrously on Wednesday as they lost three wickets, including Joe Root for a duck, in the first half-hour after the skipper won the toss and elected to bat in the opening test at the Gabba on Wednesday. Paceman Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns around his legs with the first ball of the series, a full delivery clattering into leg stump after the opener scuttled across the crease in an ugly dismissal.

Dawid Malan was then caught behind for six, needlessly pushing at a rising Josh Hazlewood delivery, the edge giving debutant wicketkeeper Alex Carey his first test dismissal. Root became England's second duck of the morning when Hazlewood induced an edge to David Warner in the slips, leaving the tourists reeling at 11 for three.

Opener Haseeb Hameed and Ben Stokes were left to resurrect the innings on a grassy pitch and in humid conditions in Brisbane.

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