Brisbane, Nov 23 (IANS) Australia fought back to reduce a resistant England to 196 for four on the first day of their opening Ashes cricket Test at the Gabba here on Thursday.

James Vince (83) and opener Mark Stoneman (53) shared a 125-run second wicket stand but Australia hit back with the pair’s wicket. The dismissal of captain Joe Root (15) gave Australia an upper hand on the first day.

Inexperienced Vince and Stoneman displayed doggedness as England recovered from the early loss of former captain Alastair Cook (2) who was caught by Peter Handscomb at first slip off left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc.

Vince and Stoneman played with a lot of patience and employed tight defence to go for lunch at 59/1. Afterwards, nearly an hour and 15 minutes of play was wasted due to rain before sunshine returned.

The English pair continued their impressive show as the Australian bowlers showed a lack of discipline after lunch. While Stoneman came up with his second Test fifty, Vince, playing in his eighth Test, registered his maiden half-century.

Pat Cummins broke the stand when a ball ran through Stoneman’s defence in the 55th over to boost the hosts just before tea.

Five overs later, Vince too lost his wicket as Nathan Lyon effected a run out from cover with a direct throw at the bowler’s end. Vince hit 12 fours in the 170 balls he faced.

A turbo-charged Cummins displayed a brilliant spell of fast bowling as he further snared England’s batting mainstay Joe Root (15) with a LBW dismissal to leave the tourists reeling at 163/4.

Dawid Malan (28 not out) and Moeen Ali (13 not out) were unbeaten when the umpires called the end of the day’s play.

Australian off-spinner Lyon didn’t get much help although he was very economical, ending the day with figures of 24-9-40-0.

Brief scores: England: 196/4 (James Vince 83, Mark Stoneman 53; Pat Cummins 2/59) vs Australia.

–IANS
pur/bg