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Opinion
It was a contest for the ages, with over five days of drama and excitement eventually culminating in Australia being victorious over England in the First Ashes Test of the 2023 series at Edgbaston.
The contrasting styles, and the history of the rivalry between these two nations made this series one of the most anticipated series of all time – and the first Test did not disappoint.
Resuming at 3-107, chasing 281 runs for victory on a rain affected day five in Birmingham, the Australian middle order stumbled to 8-227 and with every recognised batsman back in the pavilion, even the most patriotic Australian fan would have conceded victory was lightyears away.
Instead, our fighting skipper Pat Cummins 44* (73), with assistance from our best ever off-spinner Nathan Lyon 16* (28), led Australia to a famous win in the penultimate overs on day five.
This Test was an instant classic with there being a sense of redemption for the Aussies after falling agonisingly short in tests like Edgbaston (2005), Trentbridge (2013) and most recently Headingley (2019).
There were many we learned from this test but here are the four takeaways from the First Ashes Test at Edgbaston:
There has been much (warranted) talk about his, and the Australian tail’s batting in recent years with several sides knocking wickets nine, ten and eleven over pretty quickly.
However, over the course of this test, supported brilliantly by Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, (batting at eight due to the overlooking of Mitchell Starc), reminded everyone that he is very technically sound with the bat with his 38 (62) in the first and match winning 44* (73) in the second innings proving critical in the outcome of this game.
Maybe he has been guilty of not placing as much value on his wicket in recent times as he did in the test but in years gone by, he has exhibited that he can actually bat (Brisbane 2017) and (Melbourne 2018) and reminded us all again in this match.
It is absolutely crazy to think that Usman Khawaja was not in the Australian Test side 18 months ago with the opener continuing his amazing resurgence started in Sydney in January 2022.
Khawaja has averaged over 67 in the period over the last eighteen months with the left hander peeling off hundreds at home in Sydney, and away in Pakistan, India and now England with his 141 (321) and 65 (197) proving so very critical and winning him the man of the match.
Usman Khawaja celebrates his century. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
He had only made one 50+ score in England before this match, now he has three, with a fine hundred where he looked in absolute cruise control throughout.
He credits a mindset change to his success with him explaining in several press conferences that he just goes out and has fun without any expectations and thoroughly enjoys just being a part of the Australian Cricket Team.
Ever since Brendan McCullum became the coach of England test team, essentially all English players have flourished, but none more than arguably their most important batsman, in Joe Root.
Root has scored over 1000 runs with an average of 67 since June last year but the way he has gone about his batting is what has been unprecedented.
His style scares opposition even more because he still has the rock-solid defence for the good deliveries but now, he also has the guts to play in ODI mode where he continues can strike anywhere between 50 and 120.
His 118* (152) in the first and 46 (55) in the second innings helped set up the game and force a result, it was just a shame for him that he was on the wrong side of it.
Well, we all know the narrative, in 2019, the reason we won the Ashes was because Steve Smith essentially carried Australia on his own, averaging 110 with two hundreds and a double hundred with a rookie Marnus Labuschagne being a solid support act averaging 50 with four 50+ scores.
Steve Smith – can he find his best form? (Photo by Quinn Rooney – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
That was essentially it though, with no other players from either side, apart from Ben Stokes averaging over 40. This led to many pundits very fairly questioning whether the Australian batting line-up could cope and perform in England this time around.
Their questions were answered early, with Smith and Labuschagne only contributing 35 out of the Australian 668 runs this match with Khawaja (134 & 61), Carey (66), Head (50) and Cummins (38 and 44*) along with a few others showing Australia can win without them performing, although it definitely wouldn’t hurt If they made hundreds next Test.
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