Aus vs Eng: 1st Test, Ashes 2021-22: Cummins-led Aus reclaim Fortress Gabba; beat Eng by 9 wickets

Nathan Lyon completes 400 Test Wickets, brings Aus back in Gabba Test with 4-91

Nathan Lyon leads Australia off the field on Day 4 (©GettyImages)

Brief Scores: England 147 & 297 (Root 89, Malan 82, Lyon 4-91) lost to Australia 425 & 20/1 by 9 wickets

After yesterday’s resistance by English batters, fans expected that visitors will manage to give a decent target to Australia in the fourth innings.

Nathan Lyon 4-fer ensures Australia reclaim Fortress Gabba

However, the match took a dramatic turn when England suffered a huge batting collapse today morning. As the ball was 70 overs old, Australia skipper Pat Cummins and off-spinner Nathan Lyon started bowling in the morning.

Lyon sent back Dawid Malan in his second over of the day. Malan stepped out but ended up giving a catch to Marnus Labuschagne at silly mid-off.

This was the 400th Test wicket for Lyon, for which he had to wait for more than a year.

Also, England skipper Joe Root edged an outswing delivery bowled by Cameron Green, which was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. He could add only three more runs in his yesterday’s score.

Next batter Ollie Pope tried to cut a delivery bowled by Lyon, but the ball brushed his gloves and Steven Smith grabbed a catch at first slip. After five down, England suddenly had the fear of an innings defeat as Australia were still leading by 44 runs on visitors.

Australia skipper Cummins took the new ball after 82 overs and gave it to pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler smashed a few boundaries against them.

However, Cummins returned to bowl and picked the wicket of Stokes on 14. Stokes got into an awkward position and ended up giving a catch to Green at gully. Buttler tried to play an attacking game but ended up playing a delivery too much outside the off stump, which took the edge of his bat and Carey took the catch behind the wicket. He could make only 23 runs off 39 balls.

Read More: Aus vs Eng: Gabba Test, Ashes 2021-22: Root, Malan 50s blunt Australia's march; Eng still 58 behind

Australia wrap up England for 297

Australia wrapped up the English innings early by taking the remaining three wickets of lower-order batters and conceded a lead of just 19 runs.

England lost their last 8 wickets for just 74 runs due to a huge batting collapse architected by Lyon and Cummins. Lyon bagged four wickets while conceding 91 runs in this innings.

Australia reach the target losing solitary wicket

Australia were looking to chase the tiny total of 20 runs in the fourth innings to take lead of 1-0 in Ashes.

They opened the batting with wicketkeeper batter Alex Carey and Marcus Harris to chase a small total of 20 runs. Carey edged an away-going delivery bowled by Ollie Robinson and was caught by Butler behind the wicket.

On the next delivery, Harris smacked a boundary to achieve the target. Australia are leading the eminent Ashes series by 1-0.

Travis Head was awarded the Player of The Match award for his match-winning knock of 152 runs in the first innings.

What next

Both teams will head to Adelaide to play the second Test match of Ashes 2021-22 from December 16 in a day-night game.

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Read More: Aus vs Eng: Gabba Test, Ashes 2021-22: England shot out for 147; Captain Cummins claims fifer