Nathan Lyon, the premier off-spinner of Australia, has bowled out Harry Brook in a bizarre fashion during the afternoon session of day 1 of the Ashes 2023. On June 16, Friday, at the Edgbaston in Birmingham, England are currently 240-5 as Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are in the middle, at the end of the post-lunch session, looking to take their side out of the precarious situation.
On the second ball of the 38th over, Nathan Lyon delivered a shorter length ball, which turned and bounced a bit to hit the thigh pad of Harry Brook, who was late in shouldering arms. Then, the ball goes up high up in the air, only to land on the back of the English batter’s right leg to ricochet onto the stumps.
Watch the video here:
For the unversed, it was the England captain Ben Stokes, who won the toss on a sunny morning at Edgbaston. And for a change, he had no hesitation in deciding to bat first against Australia. The statement of intent from the English team was visible on the very first ball of the Test match as Zak Crawley smashed a four, on the up through the covers against the Australian captain Pat Cummins.
But, in the fourth over of the innings, Josh Hazlewood got Ben Duckett caught behind for 12 off Alex Carey. Then, for the second wicket, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley stitched together a 70-run stand.
Zak Crawley scored a quick-fire 63 off 74 balls with seven fours, before gloving one straight to Alex Carey off the bowling of Scott Boland. At one stage, England were 176-5, as Harry Brook and Ben Stokes were dismissed in back to back overs. But thereafter, Joe Root and wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow compiled an unbeaten stand of 64, to steady the ship for their side.