The 2023 Ashes Series has been nothing short of spectacular thus far. All three test matches that have been contested thus far have provided days filled with excitement and drama. And the best thing is there are still two tests to go.
Australia currently holds a narrow 2-1 lead in the series. An inspirational performance with the bat from pace bowler Pat Cummins was enough to narrowly get his side over the line at Edgbaston. His team then managed to halt yet another inspirational innings from England captain Ben Stokes at Lord’s to secure a 43-run victory, but that win wasn’t without its controversy.
Lord’s Controversy
The drama stemmed from the stumping of English wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow. With the Yorkshireman regularly patrolling out of his crease at the culmination of every delivery, Aussie keeper Alex Carey took matters into his own hands and managed to successfully stump his counterpart. The wicket made headlines the world over and even saw United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese partake in some friendly banter at the recent NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Perhaps spurred on by that controversy, England managed to battle their way back into the contest by securing victory in the must-win third test match at Headingley. Captain Ben Stokes was once again the star of the show and his knock of 80 in the first innings successfully dragged his side back into the tussle. Mark Wood then took over and his blistering form with both bat and ball saw him get England over the line and secure him the man of the match award.
Heading into the fourth test at Old Trafford, the Ashes are in the balance. Australia know that victory in Manchester will see them win a series on English soil for the first time in 22 years. Despite that, Canadian sports betting websites make them narrow even money outsiders for the contest in the North West, with the hosts being made slender -130 favourites.
With the current series on a knife edge, we decided to take a look back at some other narrow series from years gone by. Here we take a look back at the 2019 Ashes Series, the first series to finish as a draw in 47 years.
2-2 Draw Sees Australia Retain the Urn
Prior to the ongoing one, the most recent Ashes Series to take place on English soil came back in 2019. England hosted their greatest rivals just weeks removed from their crowning moment, defeating New Zealand at Lord’s to secure the Cricket World Cup for the first time in their illustrious history. Coming off the back of that success, many of the home faithful considered them the favourites to knock off the Aussies and regain the urn, and they would indeed do their utmost to do exactly that.
However, any hope of being considered the favourites were extinguished in the first test. Scintillating centuries from Steve Smith in both his first and second innings saw the tourists pick up a resounding 261-run victory. The second test ended up as a draw following dismal conditions at Lord’s which meant the Baggy Greens knew that victory in the third test at Headingley would give them an unassailable 2-0 lead.
And it looked as though that victory was nailed on after they bowled the hosts out for just 67 runs in their first innings. And after five wickets tumbled in less than an hour on a chaotic afternoon session on day four, victory looked all but assured. But the tourists hadn’t banked on the brilliance of Ben Stokes.
With England needing 72 more runs with just one wicket in hand, England’s current captain proceeded to slap the Australian bowlers all around the field, picking up boundaries left, right, and centre. His unbeaten 136 has quite rightly gone down as one of the greatest test match innings of all time, and the ginger-haired all-rounder single-handedly kept the Ashes alive. That was for one week at least.
In the fourth test at Old Trafford, the tourists would romp to victory once more, taking a 2-1 lead with just one test remaining. England would win that at the Oval and the series would finish at two apiece. However, as Australia were the Ashes holders, they were the ones that went home with the urn following one of the greatest series of all time.
The Accolades
Steve Smith’s heroic performances won him the Compton–Miller Medal, awarded to the official player of the series. The Sydney-born star hit two centuries, one double century as well as further knocks of 80 and 92. In total, he scored a whopping 774 runs throughout the course of the series, the fifth most of all time.
And if that wasn’t impressive enough, he racked up those runs in just four matches. He had to miss out on the starting lineup for the third test at Headingley due to a concussion scare, but that didn’t stop him from piling up the runs. Over the course of the summer, he averaged a stunning 110.57 runs per innings.
Ben Stokes was named England’s player of the tournament, and following his brilliant match-winning knock at Headingley, that too was unsurprising. He top-scored for his country, hitting 441 runs in total, 51 runs clear of opening batsman Rory Burns and only behind the alien-like Smith, whose performances were otherworldly.
