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Opinion
Not only was that one of the most thrilling Test finishes I’ve ever been privileged enough to see, it has set Australia up for the rest of this Ashes series to show they’re the undisputed world champions.
It was such a pulsating Test, every time you thought one team had the ascendancy at Edgbaston, the momentum would shift.
When Alex Carey got out and it was down to two tailenders in Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon to get the Aussies home
They got the wicket of Carey with Joe Root’s off-spinners by delaying taking the new ball by an over but they got it wrong by keeping him on and Cummins made the most of it with a couple of sixes down the ground.
At that moment I started thinking they can do this – they only needed 37 to win and there was no point batting for a draw because they were going to make the target without taking any risks.
Pat Cummins celebrates. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
And in the end when they got there it was such an amazing feeling. The atmosphere in the ground was electric right from the get-go and I reckon there was a couple of thousand Aussie fans, mainly made up from a few tour groups, and they went ballistic.
Cummins’ batting has regressed later in his career but playing in the IPL has probably helped him rediscover his counter-attacking skills.
He just sensed the moment and when you’re talking about captain’s knocks, you’re not normally mentioning guys who bat at No.8 but it was just what his team needed.
It was funny that he and Lyon were very relaxed despite all the tension. Even when Lyon flashed at a couple of short ones, Patty just sat back on his bat and didn’t say much with a “he’ll be fine” attitude.
Having two tailenders seemed to confuse Stokes a bit – normally you have an established batter and you try to give them a single to get them off strike but their only tactic seemed to be to dig it in short and that didn’t work because the pitch was dead.
It was an awful wicket. They wanted fast and flat decks but this one was only one of the two.
Usman Khawaja celebrates his century. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
The atmosphere in the stadium was still awesome. There was hardly a spare seat in the ground and the fans in the Hollies Stand were almost like an extra fielder for England. The players were gesturing to them to rev them up and that got them going.
Usman Khawaja was the difference between the teams. He is ticking off the list of things that he supposedly can’t do. He wouldn’t work as an opener, he couldn’t score runs overseas, he couldn’t handle the spin in India and he will struggle in England.
He’s proved all his critics wrong and he was heroic in this match, in both innings. The Aussies wouldn’t have been able to hang in this contest without his contributions and the worrying sign for England is that now that he’s overcome this hurdle of scoring his first century it could open the floodgates for the rest of the series.
Uzzy’s part of a group of players with David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith and Josh Hazlewood who are probably on their last chance to win a series in England, which Australia haven’t done since 2001, so they’re off to the perfect start now.
Winning this series would be yet another feather in their caps for what have been accomplished careers with World Cup wins in the ODI format and T20s and now the World Test Championship.
There’s been a bit of talk about Stokes declaring before stumps on day one and I know I wouldn’t have made that call but with Bazball, they’re basically doing the opposite of whatever the conventional wisdom is in cricket. If something is traditionally done one way, they’re seeing how effective they can be by going against the grain.
I didn’t think some of the English players knew he was going to declare, which can be a worry down the track. It’s alright for the captain and coach to know what’s going on and they’re going to play a certain way but players have uncertainty about their game and their place in the team.
They didn’t get any wickets that night but who knows if they batted on, the Aussies might have got them out in the next couple of overs anyway.
With the weather shortening play on a couple of the days we probably wouldn’t have got a result or the thrilling finish that we did get if he didn’t declare so I’m glad he did.
They want to provide entertainment and that’s what they did and in the end they were still very close to winning.
Joe Root was brilliant for them. I’d now say he’s probably the best English batter I’ve seen and Bazball has added an extra layer to his game with stuff like ramping Scott Boland for sixes.
He totally throws the bowler off because he gets into position so quick and he has options to elevate over the keeper or go squarer.
However, England have a few problems. Ben Duckett looks like he’s always trying to run the ball down to third man like he’s playing in the closing overs of a 50-over game and that won’t work in a Test against the Aussie quicks with the slips cordon there waiting for a nick.
England’s Ben Stokes reacts during day five of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
And his opening partner Zak Crawley went alright because it was such a flat deck in the first innings but he still looks very hit and miss.
They missed not having Mark Wood in Birmingham with his extra air speed. James Anderson had one of his worst Ashes Tests since he first came into the side nearly two decades ago.
With Moeen’s finger injury, there doesn’t seem to be too many options over here who they’re tossing up as another spin option. Ollie Robinson can bowl some off-spinners so they might try the two in one Funky Miller trick with him and Root sending down overs while the quicks operate at the other end.
Jonny Bairstow likes keeping, evidently, but he looked immobile behind the stumps apart from that one catch on day two to get rid of Marnus Labuschagne first ball. He cost them plenty of runs behind the sticks and he’s a seriously good player as a middle-order batter but his work with the gloves was below par.
Stokes was hobbling in and even when he produced a bit of magic with his leg cutter to get rid of Khawaja on day five, I can’t see him being a bowler who can get through 10-15 overs as the all-rounder this series.
I think Australia have a stronger squad – Mitchell Starc looked like he was up to full pace when he was rolling the arm over during the tea break so he could be a factor at Lord’s.
The win at Edgbaston gives the Aussies real impetus heading into next week’s second Test at Lord’s.
It was one of the great Test victories I’ve seen and this will give them a lot of belief because the players who didn’t necessarily fire in this game will be better.