Jake Ball felt England reaped the rewards of doing their homework on day two of the first Ashes Test. Ball claimed the wicket of David Warner (26) and Australia had been reduced to 76-4 in reply to England's 302, before Steve Smith (64 not out) and Shaun Marsh (44no) rescued their side on another intriguing day's cricket at the Gabba.
1st Ashes Test scorecard
England prevented Warner from getting off to a quick start. And pressure soon paid off, with this left-hander falling to a back-of-a-length delivery from Ball. Trying to pull the ball through mid-wicket, Warner only managed to pick out the fielder at short mid-wicket, having attempted to stroke it much squarer.
Smith and Marsh joined together at the fall of Peter Handscomb and drove Australia to 165-4 at stumps. But Ball felt the England bowling attack had stuck to its tactics well in Brisbane.
"We have our plans for each batter and we feel we executed them almost to perfection," he said.
"With Warner, we starved him of the strike, then there was a bit of a loose shot to get the wicket. We executed that really well today."
Ball said captain Joe Root and bowling consultant Shane Bond should take credit for an encouraging start to the Ashes series.
"Bondy and Rooty have spent a lot of time looking at the stats and where batters score runs in their first few balls and overs," said Ball.
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"The amount of time those two have put in is really showing out on the field.
"We had a meeting the other day when we had a lot of analysis and a lot of stuff on each player. It's great for the bowlers to go out there and know where their batsmen's weak areas are."
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