The Ashes are back! One of the most highly anticipated series in recent memory with Australia having just been crowned world champions, and England’s “Bazball” strategy making headlines everywhere, and the first day of the series did not disappoint.

Zak Crawley showed that England were going to continue playing their aggressive brand of cricket with a cover drive for four on the very first ball of the day, but it didn’t take long for Australia to get a small victory of their own with Ben Duckett getting caught behind in the fourth over just one ball after a perilous inside edge had just missed the stumps.

From there the teams traded blows in even pace for much of the first session, with Crawley showing uncharacteristic competence in a litany of drives through all parts of the ground, but Australia continuing to get regular wickets with Ollie Pope being given out LBW after a successful Australia review and Crawley eventually being scuppered by a caught behind after a beautiful delivery from Boland caught him out and struck him on the thumb on the up - although Australia again had to review to convince the umpires of this.

The second session started in Australia’s favour, with the dangerous Harry Brrok Brook departing for just 32, and Ben Stokes throwing away his wicket chasing a wide one just a few minutes later, but again the needle swung the other way as England took control of the match with a 121 run partnership between Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow, making it safely to Tea and then continuing right where they left off after the interval.

Bairstow offered a chance to the Australians on 68*, getting a thick edge on a wide half volley from Hazlewood, but Alex Carey wasn’t quite able to take the catch behind the stumps. It was far from an easy chance, requiring a full-length dive and outstretched arm, but he’ll be disappointed to have put it down given that he did get a hand to it. Fortunately for Carey, the drop didn’t cost much, as he was able to execute a stumping the next over after Lyon got one through the gate of a charging Bairstow.

From there it was business as usual for the next few overs with Moeen Ali getting stumped and Stuart Broad getting clean bowled for not too many. With Joe Root sitting on 93* and Jimmy Anderson seemingly having a clause in his contract stipulating that he never be required to bat, it rested on Ollie Robinson to last long enough to shepherd Root to his 30th Test century, which he indeed managed to do - his first century against Australia in 8 years.

After 77 overs a message from the England dressing room clearly went out to the middle, with Root and Robinson - who up until then were playing a relatively sedate style of cricket - suddenly hit Nathan Lyon for 20 runs off the over before making a shocking declaration at 393/8d, sending Australia in for the final four overs of the day.

The intent was clear: put Warner and Khawaja in early, and hope that the pressure of the situation and their poor records in the UK would allow England to gain a strong advantage in momentum going into the second day. It wasn’t to be though, despite some confusion between the wickets in the first over, as the Australian openers survived the day’s play.

All in all it was a closely-fought day’s play. England had opportunities to run away with the match on the back of some strong partnerships, but every time they were threatening to do so Australia managed to pick up a couple of quick wickets to bring it back to even. The early declaration likely left some runs on the board for England, and the inability to capitalise on it with a wicket in the final moments of play may swing things in Australia’s favour, but this is definitely still a very even Test match.

Many pundits were talking about how batting-friendly the pitch was, and bandying around par scores as high as 450, but as the old adage goes you should never judge a pitch until both teams have batted on it, and Australia’s performance with the bat tomorrow will definitely inform whether England have done well to put up almost 400 runs, or if that declaration may come to haunt them; Australia certainly have no shortage of players who can post mammoth scores on a flat pitch.