Ashes 2017/18, 1st Test: 5 things that went wrong for England

Openers David Warner (87*) and Cameron Bancroft (82*) helped Australia coast to a 10-wicket win over England to go 1-0 up in the Ashes series.

Chasing a modest target of 170, the hosts got the 56 runs in little more than an hour on Monday morning.

The hosts' skipper Steven Smith, who was the clear differentiator between the two sides, was an obvious contender for Man of the Match for his 141 not out.

The current holders of the iconic urn, England have got plenty to ponder before the start of the day-night Test in Adelaide on Saturday.

Now that the hosts have drawn the first blood, let's have a look at the five things that went wrong for England.

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Top-order failure

Alastair Cook might have faltered in both the innings by contributing just nine runs but Mark Stoneman (53) and James Vince (83) were quite impressive on Day 1.

However, Stoneman was undone by Pat Cummins and Vince had no chance against Nathan Lyon's scintillating throw.

Joe Root looked quite clueless and eventually, Cummins got the better of the England skipper too.The middle and lower order chipped in as the visitors managed a decent first inning score of 302.

England won the toss in Brisbane but were unable to make the most of their advantage on a solid batting wicket.The second innings was the time to make amends, but none were made.

Although Root scored fifty, it was not enough to take his team out of troubled waters, and consequently, Australia needed just 170 runs to win in the final innings, which they managed without fuss.

Failure to convert starts

England reached just four half-century scores in the match - three in the first innings and one in the second. However, it was the failure to convert them into hundreds that hurt the visitors the most in Brisbane.

England's batting failed to show resolute every time it was put to test - gradually at first, and then all at once. Even well-set batsmen surrendered their wickets.

Even a single substantial score from Joe Root (51), Jonny Bairstow (42) or Moeen Ali (40) would have proved to be a differentiator.

Not even a single partnership passed 50 in the second innings.

In the second innings, the visitors' lower order was taken apart by Australia's bowlers as England lost their final four wickets for 10 runs before being bundled out for 195.

Absence of Ben Stokes

In the presence of Ben Stokes, England's batting runs deep. However, his absence meant that the current Ashes holders had to reshuffle their entire batting order.

Joe Root believed that even without Stokes, his middle-order was stronger than the hosts', but the skipper was proved wrong, not once, but twice.

Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, and Chris Woakes were promoted up the batting order and they looked completely out of place. Woakes, who was brought in as a replacement for the world's best all-rounder, failed to deliver on the big stage.

With England already on the back-foot with the loss in Brisbane, and the Adelaide Test just five days away, the touring party needs to devise a plan to cope without Stokes.

Allowed lower order to score runs

While England's lower order lost six for 56 in the first innings and went from 185-6 to 195 all out in the second, Australia's last three alone added 119.

Despite the fact that Steve Smith was mostly responsible for carrying his team but he couldn't have done it without the 42-run contribution of his number nine Pat Cummins.

Although except Smith Australia's batsmen also did not convert the starts to score big runs, their tail-enders stood by the skipper, who tried to accumulate as many runs as possible for his team.

It was a collective failure of the fielding side that despite getting rid of the regular batsmen, they allowed the lower order to frustrate them.

Ineffective bowlers

Stuart Broad and James Anderson's first innings numbers read 54-20-99-5, while Chris Woakes and Jake Ball managed only 42-8-144-2.

Although Broad and Anderson were impressive in the first innings, England's fast bowlers failed to make a collective impact.

Australia needed 170 to win in the final innings and they managed to do so without losing a wicket is a proof enough that the visitor's pace bowling attack failed to click as a unit and was mostly ineffective. Moeen Ali, due to a cut to his index finger, added to England's bowling woes.

All-rounder Chris Woakes, who claimed six wickets in the warm-up game ahead of the high-profile series, could not create any waves either.