England captain Joe Root won the toss, chose to bat, and lost opening batter Rory Burns to Australia paceman Mitchell Starc's late swinging yorker on the first delivery of the Ashes series. On Wednesday, the severely cloudy conditions grew gloomier for the visitors when Josh Hazlewood bowled Dawid Malan (6) and Root (0) in the sixth over, reducing England to 11-3.
Pat Cummins' first wicket as Australia's test captain came four balls after the first drinks break, when star allrounder Ben Stokes (5) was caught low at third slip by Marnus Labuschagne. For Australia's fast bowling unit, the first session felt more like an open season.
To help England reach 59-4 at lunch, opener Haseeb Hameed defied the assault, striking an unbeaten 25 off 73 deliveries and sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 30 with Ollie Pope (17). It turned out that Cummins' loss of the toss in his first test since taking over as Australia's captain from Tim Paine was a good one. With the greenish Gabba surface, cloudy conditions, and rain in the forecast, Root was faced with a difficult decision. A wicket fell on the first ball of the Ashes series in Australia for the first time since 1936. In 1936, England lost a wicket on the opening ball and fell to 20-3 at the Gabba, but returned to win the match.
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