Brydon Carse reveals the motivational message from Ben Stokes that inspired England's Ashes fightback on thrilling first day

Brydon Carse praised England’s ‘unbelievable’ captain Ben Stokes for turning the most dramatic opening day to an Ashes series in living memory the way of the tourists.

England were staring down the barrel when they were bustled out for 172 in just 32.5 overs, but Stokes then capped a relentless assault in a city infamous for encouraging pace bowling by claiming his third five-wicket haul in Tests against Australia, and sixth of his career, as the hosts slumped to 123 for nine.

Asked about the performance of Stokes on his comeback from a shoulder injury, Carse said: ‘Unbelievable. The way he’s trained over the last three or four months to get to this position to be fit and firing. 

'He reaped his reward. His character and resilience is something this team looks up to. 

'He’s always positive, always full of enthusiasm, gives really simple messaging, and that’s the way that he always has dealt with the side.’

More wickets fell at the Perth Stadium - hosting a full house of 51,531 - than on any day one of an Ashes Test stretching back to 1909.

Mitchell Starc responded to the absence of fellow senior seamers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood with career-best figures of seven for 58. It took his tally in his last two Test innings to 13 for 67.

He began by dismissing Zak Crawley with his sixth ball: the 24th time in his career that he has struck in the first over of an innings.

‘That's always the plan, isn't it? But, it doesn't always happen that way,’ he said.

‘It's always been my role to be aggressive, I've never been one to worry about economy rates, that has been my role in the team - to go looking for wickets, especially with the new ball and hopefully make inroads into opposition.’

But hurrying out England’s tail had consequences for Australia, as Usman Khawaja had been off the field with a back spasm, meaning he was 10 minutes shy of being able to take his place at the top of the order alongside debutant Jake Weatherald.

History was made when Jofra Archer pinned Weatherald LBW second ball - the first time an Ashes contest had included wickets falling for both teams before a run had been scored.

And Carse sent Australia’s innings into a tailspin by following up Archer’s felling of Marnus Labuschagne to a drag-on by going wide of the crease to lure an edge from stand-in captain Steve Smith.

Carse called it ‘a really nice feeling to get him out with a plan we had put in place.’

Meanwhile, Australia were struck another blow post-play when it was revealed that Hazlewood’s hamstring injury, that kept him out of this contest, will also rule him out of playing in Brisbane in a fortnight.