Opinion
These are the top five moments from the 2019 Ashes.
5. Peter Siddle’s retirement
In the fifth and final match of the series, Peter Siddle announced his retirement from Test cricket. Siddle had played 67 matches and took 221 wickets including eight five-fors. He had been one of the architects of the Ashes win. Peter Siddle’s retirement was shocking for the fans and the team. His age is 35 right now and he had played a decade of cricket.
4. Jofra Archer versus Steve Smith
In the second Test, Jofra Archer looked pumped as he kept bowling short balls frequently. But when Steve Smith was late reading the bouncer and the ball went on to hit Smith’s helmet, the whole dressing room was in shock. When Smith was hit, the physios ran up to him and checked him, and he had concussion.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
And it led the way for the first ever concussion substitute in the history of the game. The substitute was Marnus Labuschagne. Smith had to miss the third Test due to this injury, but he returned well in the fourth Test and started playing like before.
Just before the ball hit his head, he had a ball by Archer hit his hand. The series was interesting due to the battle between Archer and Smith.
3. David Warner versus Stuart Broad
In the ten innings, Broad managed to dismiss Warner seven times. Imagine you getting out to your friend seven times out of ten. Broad had dismissed him not only seven times but also for low scores.
Stuart Broad had the record for dismissing the same batsman the most in the same series. Warner had nightmarish Ashes, with three consecutive ducks and eight single-digit scores throughout the series.
2. Nathan Lyon’s missed run out
When Ben Stokes had things under his control, Jack Leach ran and Stokes said no, so he ran back to the non-striker’s end.
When he was halfway there, a throw was made to Lyon and he could’ve easily flicked the bails and sealed the game. But there was even more thrill as Lyon fumbled and lost the ball and Leach reached safety and then in the same over Stokes had won the game for England.
I was just sitting on the edge of the couch and there were only two runs for England to win. When there was a run out chance I was about to get out of the couch and jump in victory, but I got a shock. Lyon fumbled a sitter and the run out chance was missed.
1. Ben Stokes’ 135 not out
What a Test match it was, the third Test of the series. With England requiring 76 runs off the final wicket, Stokes and Leach were at the crease. The interesting point was Leach only scored only one run in the 76 runs. Stokes had a mix of luck and skill.
(AP Photo/Jon Super)
He started attacking the bowling, playing reverse sweeps, slogs and drives. The match was in Australia’s hand completely. They had missed Stokes’ catches twice or thrice. They also wasted a review in the early overs.
Later in the evening when Lyon bowled a spinning delivery, the ball hit the pads, but the umpire refused to raise the finger. But later in the video, it was shown that it clearly hit the leg stump.
Then there was the missed run out of Leach. Stokes then smashed the ball to the offside fence to seal the victory. Leach played a good non-striker’s role in giving the strike to Stokes as much as possible. He only batted 17 balls and scored only one run. England had won.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
The mammoth rise of Jake Fraser-McGurk - his enormous potential and the destructive shot-making that he possesses makes him a very tempting option.
Marcus Stoinis produced his first IPL century and it was a beauty. He went 6, 4, 4, 4 to finish off the Lucknow Super…
The Aussie needed every centimetre of his height and reach to reel that one in!
Royal Challengers Bengaluru needed 21 off the final over...but after three sixes, a caught and bowled and a run out, Mitchell Starc's Kolkata had…
Test great Steve Smith is to play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence in the…
Nathan Lyon has revealed his disappointment that Australia's cricket chiefs have prevented him from playing his first full season of county cricket in England…
