Ashes 2025-26: England’s Brydon Carse hails captain Ben Stokes’ ‘game-changing spell’
England pace bowler Brydon Carse echoed the thoughts of cricket fans around the world on Friday when he described the astonishing opening day of the Ashes as “awesome”.
Australia was initially revelling in its early success as seven wickets for Mitchell Starc helped it dismiss the tourist for 172, only for England’s five-man pace attack to hit back and leave Australia on 123-9 at the close.
“What a day. Everyone who came to watch got value for money with 19 wickets. It was brilliant. The atmosphere was electric; the energy right through the day was awesome,” said Carse, who dismissed Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith in a fiery spell.
“Fantastic last session from everyone and it’s put us in a good position going into tomorrow,” he added.
ALSO READ | Ashes 2025-26: Carnage as 19 wickets fall on opening day of first Australia vs England Test
England’s tail collapsed from 160-6 to 172 all out in three overs of ragged batting, but did not allow its spirits to fall in front of a raucous crowd buoyed by about 10,000 visiting fans.
“Stokesy (captain Ben Stokes) kept it really simple and just told the bowlers to give everything. I thought the way Gus Atkinson and Jofra (Archer) started was phenomenal,” Carse said of how they approached the Australian innings.
Carse took three catches to help Stokes to a five-wicket haul. “He’s amazing,” he said of his captain.
“His character, his resilience … it’s everything this team strives to be, and that was a game-changing spell. As Ducky (Ben Duckett) said a couple of weeks ago, he’s in Beast Mode at the moment. Hopefully that pays off for him throughout the series,” he added.
On his own bowling and claiming the vital wicket of stand-in captain Smith, Carse said, “There’s enough assistance there with the pace and the bounce, and I was trying to hit the wicket as hard as I could throughout the day. There were a couple of balls I was delighted with. It’s always nice to get one of the best players in the world out.”
Published on Nov 21, 2025
