Opening session, open season for Australia in 1st Ashes test

England captain Joe Root won the toss, opted to bat and lost opening batter Rory Burns on the very first delivery of the Ashes series, a late swinging yorker from Australia paceman Mitchell Starc.

The heavily overcast conditions rapidly grew more gloomy for the visitors on Wednesday when Josh Hazlewood dismissed Dawid Malan (6) and Root (0) as England slipped to 11-3 in the sixth over.

When Pat Cummins took his first wicket as Australia's test captain — star allrounder Ben Stokes (5) caught low at third slip by Marnus Labuschagne four balls after the first drinks break — England was reeling at 29-4.

The opening session was more like open season for Australia's pace bowling pack. Opener Haseeb Hameed defied the attack, scoring an unbeaten 25 from 73 deliveries and sharing a an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 30 with Ollie Pope (17) to help England reach 59-4 at lunch.

It turns out, it was a good toss for Cummins to lose in his first test since replacing Tim Paine as Australia's captain. That left Root with a tough choice, considering the greenish wicket at the Gabba in overcast conditions and with rain in the forecast.

For the first time since 1936, a wicket fell on the first ball of the Ashes series Down Under. England lost a wicket first ball at the Gabba in '36 and slumped to 20-3, but recovered to win that match.

That seems a long way off for this England lineup, given the lack of preparation caused by regular rain and having to quarantine for two weeks after arriving in Australia.

England hasn't won a test match in Australia since winning the Ashes here in 2010-11, and hasn't won a test at the Gabba since 1986. After the opening session, it'll be an uphill struggle to reverse that sequence.

The England top order struggled to cope with the extra bounce and carry which are characteristics of the Gabba pitch, and Australia's pace trio bowled an excellent line and length in the conditions.

Hazlewood in particular settled into a troubling rhythm and returned 2-3 from seven overs, including four maidens. Cummins had 1-16 from six overs and Starc returned 1-25 from seven.

England's bowling attack will be missing a lot of experience, with Stuart Broad cut from the 12-man squad confirmed at the toss.

Broad and Jimmy Anderson have a combined nine Ashes tours to Australia but are both missing the opening match, leaving Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson as the specialist fast bowlers and Jack Leach as the specialist spin option.

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