'Number One' notches number 100 at rapid pace

The meteoric rise of Pat Cummins continued in Birmingham after claiming his 100th wicket in Australia's emphatic 251-run win in the first Ashes Test.

Cummins dismissed England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow with a brute of a ball that jagged back, flicked the elastic band of his glove and ballooned to Cameron Bancroft at third slip to take his Test wicket-tally to triple figures.

The right-armer achieved the milestone in just his 21st Test, making him the second fastest Australian paceman to reach the landmark after Charles 'The Terror' Turner, the Aussie quick with an awesome sobriquet who took his 100th Test wicket in his 17th match back in 1895.

It's the latest achievement in Cummins' glittering career, which started with a player-of-the-match performance in November 2011 against South Africa as an 18-year-old tearaway.

In February this year, Cummins won the Allan Border Medal as Australia's men's team most valuable player after a stellar 12 months in all formats, particularly Test cricket, where he took 28 wickets in six Tests last summer against India and Sri Lanka.

Less than a week later, he became the first Australian since Glenn McGrath 13 years ago to be crowned the No.1 Test bowler in the world, earning the nickname "Number One" from his teammates.

To underline just how potent Cummins is as a Test bowler; no Australian fast bowler with at least 100 Test wickets has a better strike rate than his 46.2, which is better than Mitch Starc (49.9), Ryan Harris (50.7) and Mitch Johnson (51.1).

Cummins finished with match figures of 7-116 at Edgbaston in his first Ashes Test on English soil, having topped the wicket-taker's tally with 23 in the 2017-18 series in Australia.

The Test vice-captain said he struggled for rhythm early in the match given the importance of the occasion in front of a raucous crowd, but by day five he was humming.

"He hasn't played a hell of a lot with the red ball in the last six months," captain Tim Paine said.

"It's also a big series and one he wanted to have a real impact on, so I think there was probably a little bit of nerves as well which is totally fine, I don't think he was on his own there.

"He settled into the Test match beautifully and the way he set the tone for our team this morning was exactly what we want form Pat Cummins.

"He's now settled into some rhythm - he'll just get better and better."

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia defeat England by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Tour match: Australians v Worcestershire, August 7-9

Second Test: August 14-18,Lord's

Third Test: August 22-26, Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval