The first Test of the Ashes 2023 at Edgbaston in Birmingham turned out to be a nail-biting thriller, with the game going down to the final hour of Day 5 and Australia emerging victorious in the contest by a narrow margin of two wickets. The game kept the cricket enthusiasts on the edge of their seats throughout the five days and reached its conclusion in a classic manner despite rain playing spoilsport in the first half of the last day.
The stage was set on Day 1 itself, with England opting to bat first after winning the toss and then declaring their innings on a total of 393/8. Although the bazball approach of the English side was questioned by many, they successfully restricted Australia seven runs behind their first innings total, i.e. on 386. However, England failed to set a big total and ended up giving Australia a target of 282 runs in their second innings.
In reply, Australia started well initially and looked good until England bowlers made a comeback and handed over a few quick setbacks to them. The sensational bowling display by the hosts at one point shifted the momentum completely in their favour as they sent eight Aussie batters back to the pavilion with Australia still requiring over 55 more runs to win Nevertheless, Australian skipper Pat Cummins (44), alongside Nathan Lyon (16), showed great grit and determination to take their team across the finish line and pull off a famous win. On the other hand, England’s effort went in vain, and they were left disheartened.
The loss yet again raised questions on England’s bazball tactic, and their early declaration in the first innings was blamed for losing the Test. In the meantime, English captain Ben Stokes opened up about the defeat and expressed his views regarding the same.
Speaking about the loss at the post-match press conference English skipper confessed that he and his team are absolutely devastated by the defeat. But he also reckoned that he’s happy with the way they played and that the side would carry the same approach in the coming games as well.
“We are not a results-driven team, but we are absolutely devastated. The lads are in pieces up there. But if that’s not attracting people to the game we love then I don’t know what will. In terms of what we put into this week, taking the game on from ball one, it would have been easy to play it a bit safer but we didn’t do that, not one individual. That’s something I’ve very proud of,” said Stokes.
“Though England were within sight of victory before Pat Cummins, the Australia captain, and Nathan Lyon put together an unbeaten partnership of 55 to change the course of the game, Stokes insisted that defeat was “not a psychological blow at all. If you look at the way we’ve played over the last five days, compared with other recent Ashes series, it shows we’re able to stand up to Australia in the way we want to play. There were so many questions coming into the series around whether we would be able to implement this style of play against that team, not just with the bat but with the ball against some unbelievable batsmen. I think we’ve proved that we can,” he added.
