The highly-anticipated 2023 Ashes series between England and Australia got underway on Friday (June 16) at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Before the series, there were plenty of discussions about whether England would continue with their ultra-aggressive approach against a fearsome Australian bowling attack or not. 

As it turned out, the English batters did play aggressively right from the first ball of the match. In the process, they also lost half their side for 176 runs in 38.4 overs.

Out of the first five wickets, it was Harry Brook’s bizarre dismissal that caught everyone’s attention. During the 38th over of England’s innings, Brook failed to connect a shorter length delivery from Nathan Lyon and the ball hit his thigh pad and bounced high up in the air. Everyone lost sight of the ball, including the batter and wicketkeeper.

Unfortunately for Brook, the ball suddenly came down and bounced onto the stumps to end his innings on 32 off 37 balls.

Here’s the video:

Earlier, Zak Crawley (61) smashed a half-century at the top to lead a solid foundation for England. At the time of writing this article, the hosts were 230/5 after 50 overs with Joe Root (65*) and Jonny Bairstow (24*) unbeaten in the middle.