#Ashes: A day with ups and downs

I was pretty surprised when Tim Paine won the toss and elected to field first. Since 2001, as numbers say, 4 times a team has elected to bowl first after winning the toss at the Oval. Normally, you bat first at the Oval after winning the toss.

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood were nagging and incisive as usual - swung the ball with a Spartan line and length. It was, as usual, testing times for English openers and the resistance broke soon. Who else but Cummins.

Joe Root and Rory Burns stabilized things, but that Hazelwood showed up again. Burns departed attempting a pull shot, which lacked intent.

Root - reprived thrice today - cashed in.

Root was looking good. He played the ball late than previous Tests of this series and it hinted of something big. For a while, his conversion rate against Australia  hasn't been encouraging. This time around, the fans and experts felt, he would make good use of luck and his new ploy to get behind the line of ball late.

He reached his fifty, but before that he reached the milestone of scoring 7000 runs in white clothes. The hope of a big knock faded as Cummins, his nemesis, outweighed him with another beauty.

Ben Stokes, promoted to number 4, looked good, but ended up the ghost while attempting a half-hearted pull, which was repeat of Rory Burns's one.

Then Root departed.

The conversation rate remained the same.

England collapsed from 170 for 3 to 226 for 8 - a similar story of previous 4 Tests.

Jos Buttler and oh yes, that man Jack Leach put up a resistance. England added 45 more runs for 9th wicket without further damage.

The hero of the day had been Mitchell Marsh, whose inclusion was blasted by Australian critics. Obviously, his previous records did not support his selection for the sake of Travis Head, but Marsh shut the mouth of critics with pace and effevtive yorkers - 4 wickets under his bag and he added the extra cutting edge to this Australian attack. Indeed, a bit more faith in a player, who's suffering from a low-esteem can deliver better results.

Thank You
Faisal Caesar