First-time ever! England, Australia openers register 0 across 3 innings in historic Ashes shame
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England and Australia openers struggled to score runs across three innings during the First Ashes Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
The first Ashes started off at the Optus Stadium in Perth as the two giants of the game, Australia and England, clashed against each other. The bowlers from both teams dominated across both innings on Day 1.
Australia bowled first, and Mitchell Starc made great use of the conditions; however, despite the carnage with the ball, the Englishmen bounced back with the bat. They took a lead of 40 runs in the first innings despite a low first-innings score of 172.
Openers fail across all three innings during the First Ashes Test
During the First Ashes Test, the English batters came into bat first, and Zak Crawley was dismissed for a duck in the very first over of the match by Mitchell Starc. This led to the first opening partnership ending with no runs on the board.
Australian debutant Jack Wetherald came in to bat in the second innings and was dismissed for a duck in the very first over off Jofra Archer's bowling. This marked the second partnership in the game to fail between openers.
The third such incident was repeated in the third innings as Mitchell Starc once again dismissed English opener Zak Crawley without letting him open his account. For the first time in the history of Test cricket, the batters across three continuous innings failed to build an opening partnership.
This is the first time in Test history that the opening partnership has failed to score a single run in all of the first three innings of a match 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Y2mDiUrQDz
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 22, 2025
Zak Crawley gets to an unwanted record for England
The England opener Zak Crawley has had many records in the longest format of the game for England. However, Crawley scored two consecutive ducks across the two innings of play in Perth.
This has taken him to a new record in Test cricket, as Crawley is the first England opener to bag a pair in a Men's Test since the former England skipper Mike Atherton, who had this terrible record to his name back during a Test against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1999.
Mitchell Starc is roaring in Perth with a 10-wicket spell
Mitchell Starc, the veteran Australian pacer, roared up in Perth in the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. He delivered when it mattered the most. Starc struck with a 10-wicket haul at the Optus Stadium.
He picked 7 wickets in the first innings, which were his best bowling figures in the longest format of the game. Starc then once again got the better of Zak Crawley, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes in the second innings. This marked Mitchell Starc's third 10-wicket haul in the longest format of the game.
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