England thrown to Lyon as Australia ease to test win

Nathan Lyon captured a long-awaited 400th test victim and spun Australia to an emphatic nine-wicket victory in the first Ashes test in Brisbane on Saturday, with England losing eight wickets in a stunning morning collapse at the Gabba on day four.

Pat Cummins’ team head to the day-night second test in Adelaide with huge momentum and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after dominating England with bat, ball and in the field.

The tourists, meanwhile, will be left to pore over their failings in Brisbane, with question marks hanging over their selections and tactics, and with few ready solutions for the batting woes ruthlessly exposed by Australia.

Cummins, in his first match as skipper, said he thought someone was smiling over him.

“A lot of things did go right, probably from the toss,” he added. “I thought it was a really complete performance. The bowlers did their thing on day one. I was really happy how everyone stuck to it. We turned up today and we were still ahead of the game.”

Resuming on 220 for two with the match still within their grasp, England lost their last eight wickets for 77 runs to be bowled out for 297 by lunch, leaving Australia needing only 20 runs to win.

England paceman Ollie Robinson dismissed wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who stood in for the injured David Warner, for nine but Marcus Harris (nine not out) hit Mark Wood to the fence to wrap up the match.

England captain Joe Root was disappointed his side could not build on their positive end to day three.

“Frustration,” he said. “We worked really hard to get ourselves back in the game last night. It’s a shame that we just couldn’t quite manage to get through that initial phase because it could have been very different.” (Reuters)