The final day of the first test of England vs Australia, The Ashes 2023 resulted in exhilarating conclusion to the fierce 5-day battle wherein Australia registered a thrilling two-wicket win against England at Edgbaston. Though the game got delayed due to rain, the Aussies despite constant struggles achieved a remarkable win at the last minute. The splendid win registered by Australia is the second-highest successful chase at Edgbaston, which made Australia recoup their tragic loss against England at the same venue in the Ashes 2005 when they missed the target of 282 with just a margin of three runs.
The Ashes 1st Test (Day 5) : How England took Australia away from victory
Australia started from where it left the last day, that is, 107/3 with Usman Khawaja and Scott Boland on the wicket. But the match got delayed with interruption caused by the rain. This made things more difficult for the Australian side as overcast conditions along with strong wind would make it favourable for bowlers to swing the ball better. Soon after the Australia’s second innings started, the team got its first blow of the day as Boland (20 runs) fell prey to Broad at a score of 121 runs.
Not long after Boland left, Travis Head, got caught in the slips on a superb delivery by Moeen Ali on a score of 143 runs on the score board. Next Cameron Green, who along with Khawaja built a crucial 49-run partnership which gave Australian side some hope of recovery as they required just 89 runs but on a brilliant ball by Robinson, Green got bowled out at a score of 192 runs, when he got an inside edge guiding the ball to the stumps. This created a grave situation for the Aussies as they now had only the last batting pair left as Khawaja and Carey.
The Ashes 1st Test (Day 5) : Australia’s trouble after losing Khawaja
With just 18 runs added further to the score board, Khawaja got an inside edge on a superb ball by Stokes, thereby losing his crucial wicket at 229 which made the Aussies lose all its hopes to win the match. Australia soon found itself in a deep trouble when Carey tried to hit the ball over the head of Root who pouched the ball his hands leading to the departure of Carey (20 runs) with 227/8 on score board.
The Ashes 1st Test (Day 5) : How Australia bounced back
At this stage, it became very easy to predict about who’s going to win the match, but then came captain Cummins on the crease who did what was really unpredictable. Cummins along with Lyon built a unbeaten partnership of 55 runs to make for their team’s win. Cummins remained unbeaten on 44 runs whereas Lyon scored 16 which showed their mental toughness in such a high-pressure .
However, delay in taking a new ball is also being considered as an important reason behind Cummins’ unshakable innings which helped the Aussies secure 1-0 lead in this series.
