Australia beat England by nine wickets

BRISBANE, Australia (AP):

A NEW era of Australian cricket with fast bowler Pat Cummins leading the team and Alex Carey behind the stumps started with a familiar result for an Ashes Test at the Gabba.

Australia won the series opener by nine wickets yesterday with one and a half days to spare after Nathan Lyon picked up his 400th Test wicket and quickly added three more to dismantle England's bid to save the first Test.

England resumed Day Four at 220-2 and Lyon struck in the fourth over, triggering a collapse that netted eight wickets for 77 runs as the visiting team finished the match in a similar vein to how it started.

After restricting England's second innings to 297, the Australians needed just 20 runs to clinch the match.

They did it in 5.1 overs, for the loss of only makeshift opener Alex Carey (9), with Marcus Harris (9 not out) hitting a boundary to finish off.

Australia have not lost a Test against England at the Gabba since 1986 and have not lost an Ashes Test on home soil since 2010-11.

Lyon triggered England's demise when he dismissed Dawid Malan to end a 162-run third-wicket stand. With that, he joined retired legspinner Shane Warne (708) and retired paceman Glenn McGrath (563) as the only Australians to surpass the 400-wicket barrier in Test cricket.

The 34-year-old off-spinner finished with 4-91 for the innings.

Carey, as well as moving up the order to open in the second innings because of David Warner's forced relegation for not fielding on Day Three, took a record eight catches for a wicketkeeper on Test debut.

Cummins was elevated to the captaincy — the first fast bowler since the 1950s to get the job — when Tim Paine quit last month following reports he had been investigated four years by Cricket Australia for sending an inappropriate text message to a work colleague in Tasmania. Carey replaced Paine behind the stumps.

"Exceptionally proud," Cummins said of the start, noting the big contributions from Lyon, Carey, and Travis Head, who cemented his place in the batting line-up with 152 in Australia's first-innings total of 425.

After being dismissed for 147 in the first innings and surrendering a 278-run first-innings deficit, England revived some hope of challenging in the first Test when Malan and Joe Root defied the attack for almost two full sessions on Friday.

But the defiance did not extend long into day four, with Malan (82 from 195 balls) getting an inside edge from Lyon to Marnus Labuschagne at bat-pad. Lyon took his 399th wicket in January and had to wait almost 11 months for No. 400 because the Australians did not play another Test in 2021 until this week.

Root added only three runs to his overnight score, making it to 89 — his highest score in an Ashes Test Down Under — before his 165-ball knock ended when he was caught behind off allrounder Cameron Green.

Lyon dismissed Ollie Pope in the next over and after Cummins squared up Ben Stokes (14) and Josh Hazlewood had Jos Buttler (23) caught behind, returned to collect two late wickets.

Lyon removed Ollie Robinson (8), inexplicably reverse sweeping to point, and bowled Mark Wood (6) before Green had Chris Woakes (16) caught behind to finish off England's innings.

Some critics questioned Root's decision to bat first after winning the toss in dark, overcast conditions on Day One and the selection panel's call to omit veteran pace bowlers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad from the XI.

"We have to be brave. We have to look to do things differently to previous tours," he said. "The toss, it was the right decision, we just didn't play well enough in the first innings.

"You can't question the guys who were out there ... (we) created so many chances, we just weren't good enough to take them."

A powerone1, the TV umpire was not able to access ball-by-ball replays to review front-foot no-balls — and there were 12 that went uncalled in the first session. On days two and three, the technology used to register "snicks" — light contact between bat and ball — was not available in the Decision Review System, either.

Root said it had no real impact on the players on the field, but could understand if it was frustrating for fans.

The five-match series moves to Adelaide, where a day-night Test starts on Thursday.