Test Match Special - The Ashes: Brook and Root give England promising start at the SCG.

Episode Date: January 4, 2026

England had the best of the opening day of the 5th and final Ashes Test with Harry Brook unbeaten on 78 and Joe Root on 72. But rain truncated the day with bad light and rain allowing only 45 overs. We hear from Brook plus Simon Mann is joined by Michael Vaughan, Phil Tufnell and Jonathan Agnew plus Eleanor Oldroyd talks to Glenn McGrath at the start of the Pink Test.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms, a weighting depth of 900 millimeters, and a roof load up to 300 kilograms. Learn more at landrover.ca. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. So at close of the first day, the fifth test match at the SCG, England 211 for three, who had 45 overs cricket. Joe Root, 72 not out, Harry Brooks 78, not out.

They put on 154 in 32 overs. I'm broken for the fourth wicket after England lost three wickets in the morning session. Duckett was out for 27, nicking off against Stark. Crawley was LBW to Nisa for 16 and Bethel was caught behind off Bolin for 10. but then came the recovery. Excellent afternoon for England with Root and Brook together. And then a bizarre final session where we didn't get any play. There was a bit of rain.

There was some lightning around the ground, but that eased off. And we had a passage of around about an hour, probably more than that, where it was dry and relatively clear. But play was cooled off half an hour before the scheduled close, when in theory we could have got a lot more play this evening. there were booze around the Sydney cricket around.

I'm not surprised as well from the spectators who'd stayed. Quite a few took a view and went home, but those who stayed very disappointed. There wasn't any more cricket on the first day. And we can start half an hour earlier on the second day and throughout the game, which is great for the spectators on the second, third, fourth and fifth days, but not good for the spectators on the first day.

Michael Vaughn is here. Jonathan Agnew is here. Tuffers is here. Well, who wants to have those? say on that then? I'll start. I mean, there's actually shadows at the feet of the people wandering around now. So the sun's breaking through. We've got

high cloud. There's some breaks in the clouds and blue sky. And basically there is not a machine out there that the motor mop that goes around to mop up the covers. That water could have been taken off an hour ago and no more would have gone on it. There's clearly a determination

to make this game last as long as possible after what's happened with the two-day fixtures that there have been and people here who have paid the money being denied probably up to an hour and a half of cricket. By the time you could add on, if they were playing before half-past five, and we're rowing now, so people don't realize it's needed 10 past five,

they could have got that off. They still could, frankly. And then you could play up to an extra hour and a half tonight and give the people who paid their money, their value for money, but it's always the first-day crowd that suffers because you can take the decision in somewhere like here where you see very clearly the next four days

is bright sunshine, 30-odd degrees, you can play your extra time you can make it up as far as the match is concerned that's great for the people who have bought tickets for those days always bad news for people who buy a first day ticket

because you don't get your money yeah if you bought day three and four tickets for the MCG and first day tickets for SCG you've been spitting you've been short change I always look at test match cricket we do everything we can to get off the pitch

you know this was a T20 or 50 over game they'd have been playing an hour and a half ago so it's very clear that this week we'll be here for five days. I think cricket Austria, they need a little bit in the coffers. And that's what we've seen in the pitch. The pitch is a good one, which is great.

But from what I've seen in terms of the rain, the light, and the conditions in the last hour or so, I think we've probably sorn off the kind of public who have paid their money in the ground today by a couple of hours at least. So it's absolutely disgraceful, really. Disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful. Where's the mop?

Where is the mop? It's not even on the ground. It's parked in the sea of. air is off. He's locked up. He's going to change to the wall. They've taken all the fuel out. They've siphoned the petrol out.

He's Nick the Keys. And it didn't rain. It didn't rain all that much anyway. I mean, it was just a little sprinkling. They could be out there playing now you're right. And as I say, we've had a series so far. Can I just say, I reckon it sums up the whole trip. Yeah.

Because England have had the best day with the batting hand and they've batted beautiful. We've had a great partnership. And we're talking about the light and the rain and the fact that they should have played that little bit longer. It's been one of those series. Test match cricket needs to address it though a little bit How many times do we sit here After a day's play sort of scratching our heads

Going why are we watching any cricket Or what's happening here Or why are the over so slow Or you know and all these kind of things We've had no cricket We've had two two day test matches And everyone's just sitting there scratching their head Saying why can't we see some cricket

I mean there is actually a gentle shower Going over the ground at the moment Just as we were talking there Someone sort of turned the tap on But it's kind of the lack of intent to try to play It's more that You know, through our time watching Test Match Cricket, this is the one format that we keep talking about.

We need to do something to make sure that we're protecting it. And we've talked about, you know, throughout this series, the pitches haven't been quite right. The way that the players are playing have been, you know, it's been disappointed, particularly with the bat in the hand. Well, that's changed today because England has batted great. You know, the weather now, in T20 cricket, you're playing this. Yes.

Test cricket is the one format that we do everything we possibly can to get off the pitch. The other two formats, we do everything we possibly can to get on the pitch. and I just don't understand why we don't have that same mindset in test match cricket. At least people who get frustrated at home and they come and watch chess cricket at home and get really infuriated by light and weather know it's just as bad on the other side of the world. They can take some comfort from that or maybe adds to the frustration of the whole thing. It's not just at home. This has been just as bad here today.

Okay, so it's been, to some extent, a frustrating day for the spectators who turned up. I think if you're Australian, you'd be frustrated, early wickets, and then that large partnership and then denied any play after tea when you feel there could have been some at least or at least there could have been some willing to play on the part of whoever, the umpires, the ground authorities, whatever.

Let's focus on the play that we did see. Let's talk about England's batting. So some really good batting in the afternoon. What about the morning session and the loss of those three early wickets? Was it, Michael, was it kind of same old, same old? Well, Ben Duckett now, you know, throughout the series, He's either been LBW or balled by Mitchell Stark

by that full straight when he's just snicked off. So he's played a couple of nice flicks through the onside where Stark's tried to get it full and straight. He's got it a bit too straight. And then, you know from an Australian perspective that when Ben Duckett gets in

and he's hit a couple of nice shots, they'll just bowl fifth stumps, six stumps, and he just doesn't leave any balls. And we've always said for a long time with Ben Duckett because he doesn't leave the ball. In the UK you can get away with it because there's not that little bit of extra bounds. And we're always watching Ben going

what's going to happen in Australia if you don't leave the ball. and he's been found wanting a little bit with that ball just outside off stump he just kind of plays with half a bat and the outside edge has been found on a regular basis and that's an area for him to come back in four years and I'm sure he'll be around in four years he's a good enough player to work that out

he's now had a whole series experience of playing here in Australia and to be an opening batter and have success he you've got to leave the ball that little bit better so that's something for Ben Duckett to improve upon Zach cruelly frustrates the life out of me because he looks so comfortable and he was playing the right way today He did leave the odd ball, and he waited for a ball.

He played a lovely pull shot. That ball that got him out should not get him out. It was just a ball that knipped back slightly. He just kind of played it two square on the on side. You're thinking there must be something in his concentration. Because I watch him closely and I think, oh, he looks such a good player. And then he just gets out. But that's been the story of his career.

The reason why he averages 31 in Test match cricket is because of that. His concentration levels aren't the strongest. You go to the start of the series where he played the big booming drives. Well, those drives have gone away now. he's not chasing the ball outside off stum but today I was watching him that should not get you out as a quality opening batter but he is a play

that I've seen enough of to go he frustrates the life at me because I know there's a lot more in the tank and I do think he'll have to stay with him because if he can play the way that he did in the second inning is in Adelaide the movement that he had today until that ball got him out was fine he was fantastic so he needs to understand the concentration

levels at this kind of level to go on an average 40, 45 over the course of the next two or three years, which I think he could do if he can find that concentration. But he is very frustrating. I can kind of hear the fans around the world go when it's crawler. He averages 30.

I think there's a bigger averaging is that crawler than what he's given at the minute, and it's just concentration. Jacob Bethel thought he was done by some clever bowling. Round the wicket, around the wicket. Then he came over the wicket and he gets one to leave him. You know, you're going to get the odd decent ball. And then we saw, you know, test cricket at its best

where Joe Root and Harry Book soaked. took the pressure, the field was spread, they knocked it about, and towards the back end before we came out off the light, Harry started to play the Harry Brookway. It was, it was a partnership which, again, frustration and disappointment that that didn't happen earlier in the series, because let's be honest, from the moment in Adelaide, where England batted poorly in the first and in the first and in until Joffar Archer got that 50, and chasing 4.30, no people, you've got a chance, the series was pretty much done there. Since that moment where we've all said the series has been gone, England have played good cricket.

since the moment that they can't win the series they've got to try and switch the mentality and do that when it really matters when it comes to 27 and in particular in four years time when it's back here in Australia I think the opener's got some technical problems Mike I mean both of those

Duckett's been bold a couple of times from start he's trying to whip that behind square and I think the same with Crawley today I mean listen I'm no batsman Mike but as an opening batty you're told to play with the full face of the bat and knock it back past you When you get the 30, 40, 50 or something like that,

you can start looking to sort of create gaps and angles by sort of turning the wrists on the ball. But anything that just seems to nip around for England's opening batters, they seem to be all at sea. And whether that's the outside edges or one darted back and they're trying to go that. So there is some technical issues. But that ball didn't do a great deal today.

No, just knit back. He was trying to make two square. The full face should be met, but it's just concentration. Because the previous over, he did knock two back to mid on. He just went back into the. the ball played it back to minute it's just his concentration levels wasn't the application generally so much better today though yeah wasn't that so much more

of example how you bat in a test match and it's the last test of the series if they've been batting like that from the start it was just strike rotation I don't we've hardly talked about that in this series busy busy busy busy push run you're active but they're still scoring at best part of five and over but there was no basballing silliness this that was a really you know mature approach yeah you get out but just the whole mentality has changed isn't it? That is not what they were playing like. Well for a long time

actually you can go back months they haven't played like that. Just head down play it properly. I'd like Harry Brooke to get in and then play Harry Brook way. He hasn't been giving himself a chance by getting in. I just want to know what we've spoken about pre-Perth because since Nusa actually

and we all kind of highlighted Nusa but clearly they had some strong conversations around Nusa leading into the third test match the Adelaide over because they have played differently. They have played with a bit more control and they have been more mature. I just want to know why that wasn't the case. After the Indian series at home in the UK

where we saw them chase down that target at Headling when they played Bumba brilliantly in the second ings, but it was like today, clever, smart, mature. I just want to know why they arrived in that first week in Perth and then the next week in Brisbane and they were so frantic. I would like to know that they're playing differently because I bet

they don't. I bet they say nothing's changed. But we know by watching we can see it. Indeed, but it'll be very interesting to see what they say. Yeah, this England batting line up and this bas-ball sort of approach and what have you. We mentioned it earlier on commentary. It's about everything's going through the gears. Well, sometimes you can get yourself into sort of third gear and just stay there for a while. As you said, they were going at five and over already, and then all of a sudden, bowlers have to start rotating, the captains start thinking and slips come out and get to be. Short-pitched stuff. Short-pitched stuff's come into it.

You know, just because you're in third gear, you don't have to then go to fourth gear and then fifth gear and then give the chance. That's what's happened to England about. Just chill out and idle about. The covers are coming off, guys. Oh, brilliant. There are they go.

It seems to me, just looking back, you're trying to think, where was the change? I thought it's looking from the outside. You know, Ben Stokes' innings at Brisbane, because he just batted and he just almost offended all day. Crawley at Adelaide. You go to that first innings in Adelaide, Australia would underperform with the bat.

I reckon Australia, 125 light of par. England batted really badly in that first inning. When the series was hot and the pitch was good and we thought, go on, going at 4.50, they batted really poorly in that first inning. There was too many mistakes. You go, you know, Olly Pope's little flick off Nathan Lyon, too many kind of weak dismissals.

And it was down to Geoffrey to get them to that half-decent, not a score that was just okay. You kind of look at the way that they play and it's all body language and mindset and today Agass is absolutely right you go back to Perth at first before it was frantic everything was 100 miles an hour

and England scored at 4.7s today by just playing the game just playing the game, playing the ball late running it down to third but don't rule out this Australian side in terms of their mindset Andrew McDonald after Melbourne he said oh the series was done at 3-0

this Australian team has switched off they switched off in Melbourne and today I looked down and thought, wait a minute, this attack is no way. The pitch is good. I thought some of Australia's bowling today, and maybe it was down to Root and Harry Brooks' brilliance, but I thought they were very, very poor with the ball in hand. Start bowled a half decent spell.

Bowling did, Nisa bowled a couple of decent overs. But that attack today on that pitch was there for the take. But isn't the frustration? No Cummins, no Hazelwood, no line. It's in the story of the tour. They look like that, you know, sometimes we've had it with England's side. You know, on tours, when you go away, and by the end of it, it's like, oh, it's the end of the term

and you switched off and you just want to get on the... That looks like Australia at the minute. They look like a touring team that's come towards the end of a hard series and they just want to get on the plane home. It's been very unlike Australia. You go back through the generations. Now, Australians generally want to hammer your 5-0. This Australian team have not given me the indication

that they desperately wanted to hammer this England side 5-0. At Adelaide as well, England bat the overs. They win that game, and it would have been the world record run chase, wouldn't it? you just had to almost back the hovers and so then you can drop down the gears and just knocking it around. It wasn't doing anything that Adelaide test

and you had the opportunity there A, get back into the ashes and B, create a new world record for a chase. This is the point with the Singapore side. They talk about, you know, this great culture and, you know, you hear Basma Cullum talk a lot about the top inches, you know, the pen have, the mentality of playing at this level.

Let's be brutally honest, when the series has been alive in England had desperately needed a score, they've not been mentally strong enough to do that. and that's been with the bat and with the ball and once the series had gone i.e. I'd laid second in the world record's there for a reason.

Teams don't chase 430 so it's kind of a free hit we're not expecting anything suddenly they started to play and then they go to Melbourne they get on a pitch that's juicy they win that game today they get on a good pitch, win a good toss and you know this this game's not on a knife edge

it's just a nice game of cricket for an England player to play because you know the series is gone I know there's pressure for positions in the team and management positions but and they've got their win as well they've got their win they've first winning 15 years and they're up against an Australian side

I look down and I'm looking and I'm going they don't look like they did at the start of the series Shane Bethel missed out we didn't really learn much about him we didn't really learn much about in Melbourne it was a good 10 it was it was in Melbourne he played the way that he had to play like the way that he's kind of used to playing

but he had a chance today and they did bowl beautifully at him they did the round the wicket over the wicket and he was very patient what, 14 balls to get off the mark, that sort of thing. I mean, they really did tighten him down. Yeah, he nicked and got out. It's a shame, because that feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Well, for everybody, you know, we need to see him, don't we? Agas, I look at a player, and he's got a very nice gift to play the game. He just needs games. Yeah. He needs to, I think in whiteball cricket, I watch him, and I think he understands his game of how he's going to score his runs in whiteball cricket. There's no way in a million years at the minute that Jacob can understand how he's going to score his red ball. I agree.

He hasn't played enough red ball cricket. So it's so imperative that. I know he'll go to the IPL. I'll go to the T20 World Cup and, you know, he's not going to play probably Red Ball Cricket until potentially June. It's so important. And if he has to miss the odd

one day series to play a bit of Red Bull Cricket in the county game to get some time in the middle, I think for the England team going forward, it'll benefit them better for Jacob to play some four days. Absolutely, because he's a future. He's got a wonderful technique. It's all very, it's a bit

Lara light with the back lift and you go, oh, pure balance is great. But I just think he's got to play more cricket to try and understand his awareness of how he's going to score runs because he hasn't done enough of it because he hasn't been given the opportunity to play too much cricket.

Totally agree with it. And I know it was only 10, but there was a... You said it was a lovely... It was a calm 10, wasn't it? He said he had to get a good ball, you know, a good piece of bowling to get him out. You know, he saw the ball,

he left it nice, he looked composed. He looked sort of like, you know, up for the fight, but without slashing and sort of fidgety and frantic. He looked very solid and, you know, as he said, a good turn, all right. But, I mean, he had to be got out, and that was a good bit of bowling that got in him. We've touched on Australia's bowling and the fact they looked just a bit short today. What about their team selection? No spinner for the first time since 1888.

It's amazing to come here at the Sydney cricket ground. Okay, you go back a bit and the spinners held sway here. You know, captains thought about playing two spinners, not one front-line spinners, thought about playing two spinners. Absolts has given us some stats on this saying that the spinners have been less effective here in recent years. But I mean, is this an Australian attack

and pitch crying out for a slow bowl? Just something a bit different? I think over the course of the next four days, I think both teams may have got their team wrong. You know, because, you know, the sun's going to shine and this pitch is a good one. There's a few cracks that are under the small covering of grasp, but I think the footholes will be created.

I'm staggered but when you look at both teams both teams have got you know you say world class all rounder in Ben Stokes and Australia have got an all rounder in Cameron Green that's developing all-bow Webster who's an all-rounder so that allows you five bowling options so surely on a pitch here that it's going to dry and dry and dry and the conditions

are going to get you know hotter and hotter I'm staggered that particularly Australia Australia I've got you know Tom Murphy's at a good offspring I kind of understand that England with Bashir because if he didn't play in Adelaide it's clearly

not balling anything like in practice so I can kind of get it from an England perspective but I reckon over the course of the next few days

we're going to be looking down and going showy Bushier should have played both teams are almost playing specialist number eight

you know they're specialist batters at number eight so do they just not trust spinners anymore to get wickets or you know I mean the pitch

you look at it first up a little bit green and oh it might do a little bit that's fine but that's day one. You know, spin bowlers come into the game

obviously later on and with the sunshine knocking about, I'm slightly worried about this now for spin bowling because, you know, where do the young spinners now? Where are they going to come from? Do you remember when T20 cricket was created and we all said, Arkby, the death of spin bowling? Well, actually spin bowling in T20 cricket,

it's actually been the death of spin bowling in test cricket because the way that all these players play the sweeps and the tricks and they dance down and they hit the ball and they've got these massive bats short shorter boundaries. Look at the boundary sizes here. I think most teams go, well, it's a bit of a wrist playing a spinner because a spinner might go at fives and six. Well, guess what? Cameron Green, what's he going at today? He's gone at six and seven. So, you know, I do think captains feel it's safer.

It's a bit like county cricket. You know, camps and captains feel it's probably safer to bowlers, 75 mile an hour bowler at 78 with the keeper stood up, wobble seam, ringfield, driver on the offside, driver on the on side, try and bowl for dots. rather than play an off-spinner or a left-arm spinner who might get whacked out of the ground a few times. And they've been obsessed about the pitch too. Both teams have, haven't they? The media has been absolutely obsessed about the pitch.

Three days out, people talking about green Mambors and that stuff. Hang on three days to go yet. How do you measure grass? How do you measure grass? Shouldn't influence captains and management, though. They should be experienced enough to look at the surface and say, okay, it was green, but now it's not so green. Well, it was interesting because McDonald was saying

that top Murphy plays, wasn't they? it was you know that was the kind of the language that you were saying before the test match oh we're going to go in with murphy we're going with murphy all of a sudden he's not playing i think um the problem australia have with uh stea smith of the skipper i think he plays ospin so well he doesn't rate it no exactly i think that's an issue i think he's it's true it's true i'm not having an ospin in my team it's true things like that do happen you know i was here for the victoria game versus new south wales the ball spun pitch deteriorated i'll see that game we didn't see that game i didn't see you

you? Well, you'd have been in the posh section. I would just sign the stands. And there was a little bit of tweak there. So I think this pitch will certainly offer something, which it may give Will Jacks a great opportunity of getting a few wickets later in the test. And spinners can still take wickets just because it's a bit of grass on the pitch. Otherwise, I would have never played. Yeah. I mean, has it just been sort of the legacy of the series, really, that the scene bowlers have got the job done? He just, you say, it's a kind of like safety first, really. Yeah, well, also, I think this pitch may crack and, you know, the taller bowlers might get that uneven bounce,

which is, it's going to be probably more threatening than, you know, an off-spin and lobbing a few. But I do think the way that these players play spin these days. Off-spin the lobbing a few. Well, I just think these players in this era, they think spins there to be whacked. You know, and that's why... But if you look at England,

you know, England get out to Ospin. That's why, if I'm Australia, I'm watching, surely you watch Washington Sundar Bowl to him when he got four for 22 at Lords, not spinning it. I think this England side, it is the one side that I would bowl a lot of spin to, because I think they'll run past a few.

be honest, the spinners on offer in this series aren't very good, are they? I mean, Lyon accepted until he got injured, you know. Bashir is clearly unselectable at the moment, although they say not. Will Jackson we saw him in Adelaide, you know, that's, that he's not going to run through a, through a team,

is he? Todd Murphy, I think, 's ever played a test match in Australia, is he only played in the subcontinent, and West Indies? So, you know, I think you just play safe, and you go for the Seymour. And, I mean, but Steve Smith did say about the cracks, didn't it? The toss. And I suspect that's why they've gone.

And they've packed the batting. Both teams pat the batting. Phil is right. The specialist number eight. You look at Australia, Webster at eight, Nisa at nine, Stark at number 10. So Australia's packed the batting. So there's a lot of talk coming into this match about the pitch,

and we've touched on it a bit. I mean, how good for batting is this pitch at the moment? I think it's a beauty. There's a bit of nibble there. The 20 overs of a kookabura ball. I mean, we've said it for years and the last few months. So you just got to make sure that you don't have too much damage done against you. England had three wickets that fell,

and then two players realized it was a good pitch and just played normally. You know, when you're seeing Joe Root play that little glide down to third, which we haven't seen him do in Australia. I've never seen him really dominate that third man area with the bat. He did that all day, and that tells you that the pitch is just bouncing. Without that steep bounce or without that kind of extra pace, it's a good pitch, but it will deteriorate. You know, when we get today's, and I'm pretty sure we will get today's three, four and five,

this pitch will start to do a few more tricks, but the first innings of the test match, It's so important that England are 2-11 for three. You know, that is an over 400-pass kind of first in his wicket without any question. But the good thing about today, I'm how I thought at lunch, oh dear, it's felt that little bit of a wobble. There were three down. And they've just taken it away, which is actually. They played really well.

They did indeed. No more so than Harry Brooke, who is 78 not out, and he has been speaking to Henry Moran. right then um well harry funny old conclusion to the day what were you guys thinking in the dressing room as uh as plane was delayed but we'd necessarily see any rain falling no we kind of knew that it was going to rain today and obviously we came off a bad light and at that point we knew the rain was going to come and yeah we were just sat around waiting for it to be called off really talk to me about what made that partnership with joe different to what else we've seen in this series because it felt so calm and so controlled.

It's a good wicket. It's very nice pitch to that on them. Yeah, we managed to rotate strike nicely, get a few boundaries here and there. Yeah, it was just a nice service to play up. This ground is one that has traditionally taken turn. It's shown some cracks already, but once that ball softened up,

you're saying it's as good as anything we've seen in the series. Yeah, it's definitely the best pitch we've played on this series, for sure. Yeah, obviously they haven't picked up. to spinner and they've gone with the five seam attack and yeah they obviously thought he was probably going to do a little bit more than it did but like I said it's just generally a good wicket batting with Joe is something that you know you've done a lot domestically and internationally what's it like being out there with somebody that is so good at strike rotation yeah it's awesome you get

to get back on strike and your innings ticks over and there isn't many balls that he he's not trying to get off strike he's always he's always looking to rotate and and score runs and And that's part of batting, really. You've got to be able to score, and it's not just about survival. You've got to try and put pressure back on the ball. In terms of the significance of this game, there's no such thing as a dead rubber in international sport.

I mean, this game feels like it's got quite a lot of significance in terms of the narrative of the series. Yeah, it would be nice to win this week and go home 3-2 down. Obviously, we didn't have the great start in the first three games, but we're still all dying to win. and we've just got to stick to our processes this week and do what we do best, which is putting the pressure back on them

and looking to take wickets throughout and working towards modes of dismissal. And yeah, if we do that this week and stick to our guns, there's no reason why we can't come on top. What was the conversation from Brendan and Ben coming into the match? We didn't do much chatting, to be honest.

It's all about consistency, really. We haven't done so much chatting the whole time that Bazz and Stokesy have been in charge. It's just reinforcing. the same messages which I just spoke about there. There's a batting unit, putting pressure back on their bowlers. There's a bowling unit working towards Moses dismissal and then in the field, always giving 100%

and trying to chase it as hard as you can to the boundary. A lot of chat about the future of the leadership of this side. You're going to be a name inevitably spoken about it as a potential leader of this side. Where do you stand on it all? Is it distracting? I haven't read any of it. I haven't seen anything, so I have no idea, but I'm enjoying playing under Bazz and Stokesy and they've been phenomenal for the last three, four years. It's been a highlight of my career so far, obviously very short,

but to be able to play under bars, the coach that he is, he gives you so much confidence, he is the best coach I've had. And yeah, hopefully he stays on and we can carry on this good trend that we've got. Have you thought about what would be a good total, a part total? No, not really, just taking ball by ball moment at a time. and yeah hopefully go out there tomorrow and restart and hopefully me and Rudy can just carry on and get a big partnership and who's distracting you who's waving at you from off in the dressing room is anyone keeping a bit of an eye

creepers just stood behind the camera a minute ago so I was trying I was trying to keep eye contact with him actually is that cruel yeah so spirits are still in this camp absolutely yeah there's no reason why we can't be we live in the dream every 10 year old in the world who watches cricket plays cricket wants to be here and we were at 10 year old when we were younger so I know we've lost a series but we're still all living our dream and we're out here playing against Australia

on the biggest stage so you've got to have a bit of fun and smile whether you're on top or whether you're not so yeah we've come to an amazing country and we're trying to enjoy it as much as possible Harry Brooke thank you to you Zach Crawley Lessso thank you very much for your time

thank you very much, cheers Harry Brooke speaking to Henry Moran let's get an Australian view point now. Glenn McGrath has been with us during the day. This is the first day of the pink test, raising awareness and funds for the McGrae Foundation. He's been speaking to Eleanor Aldroyd, firstly about his assessment of the day's play. So, Glenn, a curtail day today, but what are your thoughts about day one? Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it, to see that pitch, and to hear both captains at the toss, we're definitely going to bat whoever won. Fortunately, for Ben Stokes,

come down tails again I think Steve Smith needs to work on his tossing you know at the start of the year he went to toss and the coin just fell off his hand on the ground at least he's getting a bit of height but it's coming down tails every time so he's lost four from four and

yeah but they still have to go out there and bat well Australia bowl well in the first hour pick up those three wickets and then you know since then you know Harry Brooke and especially Joe Roots looked very good very solid and the pitch itself looks like a very good batting track at the moment. And that kind of application

that England fans have been crying out for, really from those two in particular? Yeah, no Joe Root, I think, you know, he's just class and he plays the way he plays. You know, Harry Brooke, he's got potential, hasn't? He seems to have more time than anyone else, but just the way he goes about it. I think he's very

much a numbers game sometimes, so I can watch him and you can nearly see, okay, he's going to do this, and then after that he's going to, and I guess when you get to bowlers who actually have that experience and can sort of feel what's going to happen it's going to be interesting

to see how he goes but he's quality they're both going extremely well and England are in a good position good batting track as you say but there was a certain amount of nervousness going into this test match

wasn't there about the condition of the wicket whether it was going to favour the ball over the bat to an extreme extent again like it did in Melbourne maybe they've gone too far the other way well you know batsmen do carry on don't they like yeah they're pitch in Melbourne

and had a bit of seam, probably a little bit too much. I don't think we've ever spoken about 1, 2, 3 millimetres of grass more in our whole career, but, yeah, that pitch did a bit. There's no doubt about that, whether the batsman could have applied themselves better and toughed it out and scored a few more runs than they did maybe. So I like to think it's a bit, the pitch was tough, but the batsman, some of their shot selection was a little bit left to be desired. So here maybe I think the poor groundsman was,

under the pump, wasn't he? You've had two, two-day test matches out of four in an Asher series. It's unheard of, you know, how much money has Cricket Australia lost in those, you know, those two-day tests? And not to mention, you know, the food and everything else that's gone away. So I know they've donated it, so which is great. You know, I feel for the English fans of, you know, some of them are saved up all you to come out to watch a test match. And if they've got tickets to day three, they've missed the whole game. So, yeah, I think the groundsman here was under the pump a little bit to produce something that was going to go the length so yeah the pitch itself looks looks pretty flat though there's talk that there's cracks out

there and this pitch has broken up and gets pretty tough to bat on sort of come third or fourth inning so we'll wait and see what happens there's some pretty warm days coming and forecast and some fine weather so i dare say we'll get to see the full extent of this this pitch what it's going to do and hopefully get well in a day five. Do you think Australia got their bowling selection right? So they had the option of a spinner, didn't they? And they've not looked as if really they've known where to bowl to England in the afternoon session. Or is that just good England batting?

Yeah, it's good England batting, but I think it's the pitch itself. And I've watched the way Australia have gone about it. Those three wickets they picked up this morning, they bowled some good areas there. Whether England had to play some of those deliveries or not, yeah, you can chat about it. You know, Zach Crawley, who I'm a big fan of, just, you know, played a cross-one and missed it. So, yeah, but since then, I think Australia, looking at their bowling, if I'm, to be super critical, I think they bowled a little bit too full or a little bit too short some stages. They didn't hit that exact length that you have to on a pitch like that.

But, no, you've got to give credit to the way Joe Root batted, the way Harry Brooks batted. You know, Brooks's been happy to come out of his crease and unsettled the bowler. line and length but you know with Kerry coming up to the stumps it's always little battles happening out there but I think the pitch itself is at the moment a very good batting track or we're in day one of the pink test which is in honour of the foundation that you set up um to remember your your late wife jane just tell us about how things are going to unfold over the next few days beyond the fact that loads of people will be wearing pink yeah so it's a well it's a foundation that jane and i set up um in 2005 after our experience

of going through breast cancer and having a recurrence and all of a sudden a breast care nurse being there and the positive difference that made in her life or in our lives was incredible, especially hers and realized there was not enough of these amazing people out there and that's why we launched

the foundation of raised funds to place breast care nurses in communities across the country. Unfortunately Jane lost a battle in 2008 and since that time the support's been unbelievable. Jane never wanted it to be about her. It's not about me. It's about the families going through breast cancer. It's about the nurses. And then we achieved our mission that every person

where they live had the free support of a breast care nurse within a 75K radius. To achieve that back in 2024 was amazing. The federal government then came to us and asked us if we take our support to all cancers, to anyone going through any type of cancer, which I thought was brilliant. It's something I've always wanted to do. And, you know, for us to have a positive impact there, I thought was amazing. So, yeah, so last year we've been doing that. We put on 82 nurses in the last 12 months to provide support for different cancers and currently sit at 343 McGrath cancer care nurses.

And they've supported over nearly 170,000 families going through this insidious disease. So, yeah, so we, the virtual seat, pink seat campaign is something that's been going for a while since COVID one of our guys came up with a concept and it's been a game changer and so you can buy your own seat even if you're not here you can buy seats if you're not here if you're in england you can jump online pinktest.com.com. Get your virtual pink seats put your loved ones names on it put a message of support or hope posted on your social media and yeah so the 480,000 virtual pink seats we sold 450,000 last year 450 equates to 8000 families getting that support or having that support available in one of the toughest times in their

life. So, yeah, they're real numbers and money that people donate can see the tangible difference, positive difference that's making people's lives, which I think is really important. Must be very moving for you to come here and see everything in pink and the players with pink, you know, tingees to their uniforms as well. Oh, without a doubt. And, you know, it's generally a busy time of the year for me. And you just go from one thing to the next to the next. But I try to take time and stop and just look around and see what's being created. And it is something very unique and very special. You know, I've worked with Straussie.

I know they do turning Lords Red for Ruth, which I think's incredible as well. But that's the beauty of sport and the beauty of cricket and the ashes. It brings people together from all walks of life. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from. It brings people together. And the feeling of goodwill today at this match, I think, is much needed in the world. you look at the things that are happening around we've mentioned Bondi

the absolute tragedy there that happened you know was it a few weeks a month ago now where we honored the first responders this morning which I thought was brilliant so to have you know a message of hope a message of celebration of life as a way I like to look at it is pretty special and you know on day three I try to take five ten minutes out of my day

and just stop and just look around the crowd and what's been created here is is something incredibly special. Brilliant, Glenn, thank you. All right, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in their pink shirts come day three. I've got mine in my suitcase. No, thank you very much, Ellie. That's brilliant.

Thank you very much. So that's Glenn McGrath speaking to Eleanor Aldroyd. You can watch highlights on the BBC Sport website and app now with our main highlights on the BBC iPlayer available every day of the series from 5pm. The TMS Ash's Debrief is also on IPlay with Alex Hartley and guests. go to BBC Sounds for all our TMS podcast, Just Search Ashes, and we'll have an early start to the second day with the first ball at 11pm tonight

and we'll be on air from 1045. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.