Australia has turned in a solid day one performance in the third Test in Adelaide, but according to two Ashes greats the home side could yet regret the inability to press home its advantage as a desperate England remain very much in the must-win match.
After winning the toss and batting in front of more than 56,000 fans at the Adelaide Oval, Pat Cummins’ men ended the opening day at 8-326 leaving the match delicately poised.
While scoring at a healthy rate of nearly four runs an over on a slow pitch with few demons, the Australians lost wickets steadily throughout the day, mostly through poor shots rather than searching bowling.
“You look at the way the pitch has played, Australia look like they’ve won a good toss, but so far they’ve wasted a great opportunity,” Michael Vaughan said in commentary for Fox Cricket during the final session.
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“They should be aiming to bat in the first innings for at least 115-125 overs, keep the opposition out there, just grind them out—but they haven’t quite arrived today and played with their usual composure.”
“They’ve looked a bit complacent to me, not ruthless,” Mark Waugh added.
“A lot of batsmen have got in, and got out.”
Indeed, every time Australia appeared set to take complete control of the match a wicket fell, with the soft dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne (19), Usman Khawaja (82) and Josh Inglis (32) each letting the England bowlers very much off the hook.
The final example came in the closing stages of the day when home-town centurion Alex Carey—who had shown remarkable patience en route to just his third Test century—skied part-time spinner Will Jacks barely two overs before the second new ball was due.
With Carey’s departure English spirits once again rose and the Australian run rate ground to a halt, setting up what promises to be a critical day two in the context of the entire 2025-26 Ashes series.