Excellent conditions for the first test of the 2025/26 Ashes series in Perth in what would become a historic result with wickets tumbling rapidly within two days for Australia to deliver a stunning victory out of what was almost certain to be a crushing defeat by England.
Day one conditions were perfect, with warm sunny conditions with a flat deck with plenty of bounce and carry with a little bit of a green tinge to offer something for the seamers and the quicks to cause trouble to the batsmen. As it would pan out this would be the case and the quicks would cause complete devastation to the batting line ups.
England won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket offering early bounce and sideways movement. Their innings never settled into rhythm, with Australia’s pace attack applying persistent pressure. Mitchell Starc was the standout performer, swinging and seaming the ball at high pace to dismantle England’s top and middle order. Despite a few brief periods of resistance, England were bowled out for 172, a total that felt below par in good batting conditions. Starc claimed the majority of the wickets, setting the tone for the match with a commanding display. I think that Starc is only getting better and better as he ages with his pace, swing and bounce being a headache for batsmen. Can very easily see him reaching the 500 wicket mark within 3 seasons.
Australia’s response began shakily. England’s bowlers extracted similar movement under lights, and Australia stumbled to 132 all out, giving England a narrow 40-run lead. While the total was not ideal, the match remained evenly poised thanks to disciplined English bowling from the likes of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes. However, the small lead meant England needed to bat with composure in their second innings to set a competitive target.
England were on track for setting the pace and taking control of the match. However, what would be the game changing spells of bowling from Starc and Scott Boland sent the English from 65 for only one wicket to being bundled out for 164. This only left England with a lead of 205. Given how Australia batted in the first innings, this would perhaps be a challenge for the hosts. Although there would be another 4 days worth of batting left ahead of them, this perhaps would be mathematically and logically within reach of them chasing down this total given how long they would have to chase down the total.
While Starc's phenomenal bowling had caused more difficulties for the visitors, it was yet again another incredible display from Boland to bag 4 wickets to clean up the innings and essentially be the match winner with such display. Australia's pace attack had forced 8 wickets to fall for only 40 runs. This dominant display by the Australians paved the way for their run chase that would be a breeze with exquisite batting from Travis Head and a scratchy but valuable half century from Marnus Labuschagne. Wetherald improved from his disappointing first innings score with a handy start. Hopefully can build upon that for the next test in Brisbane. However, the star of the show was Head's 123 which ensured that Australia won the game within 2 days by 8 wickets.
Now about the food and beverages. I honestly did not have any of the food as the wickets and the drama was unfolding rapidly. I mean the game was wrapped up within 2 days. Though I did have the time to have some drinks. The 600mL of Pepsi were 7 dollars as well as 500mL of Dare coffee drink. These are on the absurd levels, even for stadium prices these are becoming rather silly and out of control. These should not be more than the 6 dollar mark as when you hit 7, you start to push towards 10 and then the prices of food and drinks start to run away and become unaffordable. Although the saving grace of my time while watching the cricket was the price of premixed Bundaberg Rum and cola. The spirits are 15.50 and though they are on the slightly expensive side, I would rather have them as full strength. If these were not full strength and being the same price but at mid-strength, this would simply be unacceptable. However, this would have been th case outside of the membership enclosure, so that would be thoroughly irritating.
I would say it was another great time out at Perth stadium to watch some test cricket. While it was thoroughly enjoyable, it was all so very quick and something that will probably not happen any time soon. Though test cricket could throw up interesting events as Ashes cricket usually does. Never a dull moment at the cricket.
