Ashes first Test, day one: Australia lose three wickets before lunch after opting to bat against England

Got him: England's Stuart Broad celebrates taking the wicket of Australia's David Warner leg before.

STUART BROAD ensured England enjoyed early wickets on the first morning of the 2019 Ashes, with Australia reaching lunch on 83-3 in front of a hostile Edgbaston crowd.

A defining summer for Joe Root

The tourists opted to bat in the first Specsavers Test but lost their top three for just 35 as Broad accounted for openers David Warner and Cameron Bancroft - both booed to and from the crease following their roles in the sandpaper scandal - and World Cup winner Chris Woakes sent back Usman Khawaja.

A stand of 48 between Steve Smith, the third of Australia’s reunited ball-tampering trio, and Travis Head evened up the scales heading into the break as the rivals jostled for supremacy on day one of a possible 25 this summer.

Wicket salute: England's Stuart Broad claims the wicket of Australia's Cameron Bancroft, caught by Joe Root.

England fans will be nevertheless be sweating on James Anderson’s fitness, with the record wicket-taker bowling a solitary four-over spell in the session having just returned from a calf injury.

Tim Paine’s decision to bat first after winning the toss meant Warner and Bancroft were straight into the lion’s den. Catcalls rang around the ground as they walked to the crease, with the Hollies Stand upping the ante with a chorus of “cheats, cheats, cheats”.

Bancroft began by playing back an Anderson maiden but Warner almost gave his detractors their dream outcome when he nicked his first ball of the day down the leg side.

Broad appealed, as did wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, but neither umpire Aleem Dar nor captain Joe Root were persuaded.