Australia clinch a famous 2-wicket win in the 1st Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston

[JattMaula]

This will be a famous win.

 

[Champ_Pal]

You have to appreciate the Aussie fighting spirit. They fight till the end. Never Give up.

 

[MenInG]

 

[Ab Fan]

if Aus wins, there is no way cummins get MOTM, it will go to Khwaja

Pakistani fans with their usual famous quote :-

"I hope Khawaja scores runs but Australia loses the match."

 

[gibsyhesperis]

Fantastic chase by Australia.
And they did it their way — not seduced by all the Bazball ********
The T20 fan boys berating Khawaja’s innings no jack *hit about Test cricket
As Ponting (who probably knows a bit more than the T20 fan boys) said the key innings and foundation was the Khawaja innings

They chased it in true style !!

 

[Protea Fan]

Cummins is the POTM for me

82 runs with the bat and 4 wickets

He was the only one who moved the ball well in the entire test match

 

[MenInG]

 

[Savak]

England's bowling lack penetration. How long will Anderson, Broad keep going? It doesn't help that Stokes doesn't bowl enough

 

[NeVerMind]

England entertained and that's what matters...all 5 days sold out!

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

Cummins man of the match for me fantastic player and courageous leader

 

[Champ_Pal]

England's bowling lack penetration. How long will Anderson, Broad keep going? It doesn't help that Stokes doesn't bowl enough

Mark Wood must play next match along with Adil Rashid (if available).

 

[Technics 1210]

England's bowling lack penetration. How long will Anderson, Broad keep going? It doesn't help that Stokes doesn't bowl enough

Add to that Moeen is somewhat injured, and then you have Brooks, and Root.

England bowling attack is average at best.

 

[sindhiboy]

Boland, Cummins, Lyon won this game for Australia........ with the bat ) )

 

[Champ_Pal]

Cummins man of the match for me ���� fantastic player and courageous leader

Its very hard to decide. Obviously the MOTM will go to Khwaja. But if Cummins gets it, he deserves it too.

 

[NeVerMind]

Mark Wood must play next match along with Adil Rashid (if available).

Rash ain't coming out of retirement

 

[Protea Fan]

and thats why bazball is a flawed concept

Margin of error is always there in bazball concept due to its aggressive nature

But calling it as flawed is far too stretched

If not for bazball this would have been a boring draw considering how dead the wicket was

They just need to rectify some stuffs in bazball like mindless slogging and then they can mastery it i think

 

[Champ_Pal]

Rash ain't coming out of retirement

Sucks for England then. They need to get the best spinner available.

 

[Mockingbird]

Questions will be asked now regarding that aggressive declaration. This is the 2nd instance of Bazball boomeranging on them. Surely that can’t be a ‘one side fits all’ strategy.

 

[Saj]

Australia triumphed on a thrilling final day to land a first blow in the Ashes with a two-wicket victory at Edgbaston.

The first game of the new ICC World Test Championship cycle ended in dramatic fashion, with Pat Cummins playing a captain’s knock to steer his side to a famous victory in the Birmingham twilight.

England looked favourites when Cummins came to the crease, but the skipper added 18 runs alongside Alex Carey and then played the decisive part in the match-winning stand with Nathan Lyon as the opening match of the Ashes went down to the wire.

Australia triumphed on a thrilling final day to land a first blow in the Ashes with a two-wicket victory at Edgbaston.

The first game of the new ICC World Test Championship cycle ended in dramatic fashion, with Pat Cummins playing a captain’s knock to steer his side to a famous victory in the Birmingham twilight.

England looked favourites when Cummins came to the crease, but the skipper added 18 runs alongside Alex Carey and then played the decisive part in the match-winning stand with Nathan Lyon as the opening match of the Ashes went down to the wire.

Rain washed out the whole first session to compress the day’s play, with Australia resuming on 107/3 and all results still possible when play did start on a cloudy afternoon.

Needing 174 to win, Usman Khawaja and Scott Boland made England sweat for the early breakthrough before Stuart Broad lured the edge from the nightwatchman. Boland’s 20 was his highest Test score to-date.

Australia bided their time, with Travis Head seeing off a spell of short-pitched bowling.

But Moeen Ali, who struggled throughout the day with a finger injury, produced a superb delivery to tie Head up in knots, with Joe Root taking a sharp catch at first slip.

The tourists were well-placed, five wickets down, at tea. But England did get a glimmer of hope when Cameron Green’s 66-ball vigil came to an end when he chopped an Ollie Robinson ball onto his stumps to depart for 28.

And Khawaja’s defiant 197-ball 65 came to an end in the same fashion when he was undone by a slower ball from England captain Stokes.

England delayed taking the new ball, and the decision paid off in style when part-time spinner Root clung on to a sharp caught and bowled chance (his third such tricky opportunity) to remove Alex Carey for 20 with Australia still requiring 54 runs to win.

Tension was high as England tried everything to get the remaining wickets they needed. But Cummins and Lyon held their nerve to wrap up a famous victory.

The win gives Australia a 1-0 lead in the series with four Tests to play. The second Test will start at Lord’s next Wednesday.

And the result is the first in the new cycle of the World Test Championship, with defending champions Australia getting points on the board at the first time of asking.

 

[NeVerMind]

Remember when test match attendance dwindling when Root was captaining?

That's a thing of the past now as every day of this test series will be sold out....

 

[Rana]

Well done Australia

Great win for a great cricket nation

 

[Markhor]

Fantastic chase by Australia.
And they did it their way — not seduced by all the Bazball ********
The T20 fan boys berating Khawaja’s innings no jack *hit about Test cricket
As Ponting (who probably knows a bit more than the T20 fan boys) said the key innings and foundation was the Khawaja innings

They chased it in true style !!

Needing a 55 run partnership from your tailenders is hardly a vindication of the earlier approach on a Day 5 pitch that was far from unplayable. How often can your bowlers bail you out with their batting ?

AUS took control once Cummins began counterattacking. Before that they were playing into ENG's hands by playing so timidly, especially when ENG's main spinner is injured, Anderson off-colour and Stokes has a bad knee.

I am glad though some of the Bazball braggadocio has been punctured. There's been too much self-congratulation and lecturing others about the "right way" to play Test cricket from the ENG camp. The 1st inns declaration has backfired and while ENG should retain their attacking ethos - hopefully this defeat will lead to a more humble and nuanced approach.

 

[NeVerMind]

Probably the first time that a Pakistani born player is Player of the Match in an Ashes match!

 

[Amjid Javed]

Well done Stokes for brave declaration in 1st inns, without it the day 5 match situation may never happened.

Aussies deserved to win, but its a long series and England need to change their bowling attack. But so will Aussies in some parts of this series.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Criticising Stokes any in such a brilliant test match is a bit silly.

Stokes went for the win. He nearly pulled it off.

This has now set up the series to be one of the best of all time.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Well done Stokes for brave declaration in 1st inns, without it the day 5 match situation may never happened.

Aussies deserved to win, but its a long series and England need to change their bowling attack. But so will Aussies in some parts of this series.

100%.

Mark Wood injured?

Rehan Ahmed to replace Moeen. But I think England have chosen the squad for two matches so Mo will get another go, unless he declares himself as injured.

 

[Bewal Express]

I predicted a 4 wicket win yesterday, England lacked a killer bowler on a slow, low flat track. Both Robinson and Anderson looked short of rhythm and it was Broads passion that kept England in it

 

[NeVerMind]

Criticising Stokes any in such a brilliant test match is a bit silly.

Stokes went for the win. He nearly pulled it off.

This has now set up the series to be one of the best of all time.

Exaclty...he's revitalised interest in test matches and every day of this test series will be sold out...

 

[Rana]

This is not Pakistan

Rehan will get eaten alive by the Aussies at this point if they bring him in.

 

[Bewal Express]

100%.

Mark Wood injured?

Rehan Ahmed to replace Moeen. But I think England have chosen the squad for two matches so Mo will get another go, unless he declares himself as injured.

Rehan is nowhere near ready. The problem is the MA looks old and obviously the injury didn't help.

 

[NeVerMind]

Bairstow missing those chances proved crucial as well... personally would bring on Foakes in as wicket keeper and drop Duckett who hasn't done anything special in this match (with Bairstow opening with Crawley)

 

[Bewal Express]

Exaclty...he's revitalised interest in test matches and every day of this test series will be sold out...

The Ashes are always sold out. The fans want wins, whether it's pretty or ugly matters not

 

[Colorblind Genius]

Wow !!
What a game.

This is a classical Australian trait of having an unrealistic amount of grit.

Not only, they just don't give up, but almost always their lower order stands up to puts the runs on board.

The grit is definitely supported by talent, skill, ability temperament and focus.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to give Pat Cummins with player of the match award.

The winning runs he scored were in a much, much tougher situation. There was not even a 1% chance of victory after Khawaja's dismissal.

And Khawaja was brilliant too and perhaps deserves the player of the match as well but Cummins literally got the victory out of the jaws of defeat. A truly brave and heroic innings.

 

[JaDed]

Awesome, It’s been forever wince Aus won ashes in England, hopefully they can keep up the momentum!

 

[sindhiboy]

Courageous Cummins is my motm, he should take a bow.

England handed this game to Australia through reckless bazballing with the bat by throwing away their wickets on a flat pitch.
Bairstow's million dropped catches and misstumping proved to be very costly as well.

Broad and Robinson were outstanding, Broad was so unlucky today and deserved a 5 fer.

 

[NeVerMind]

The Ashes are always sold out. The fans want wins, whether it's pretty or ugly matters not

That's exactly because of the way Stokes has lead the way with his team since becoming th captain...had it been Roots captaining, I doubt that would have been the case away from the London grounds...you just need to see the comments section on the BBC website to see how this has captured the nation...for once, the number of comments posted on websites for the BBC and those belonging to other newspapers are similar you would get on a football article

 

[gibsyhesperis]

Exaclty...he's revitalised interest in test matches and every day of this test series will be sold out...

The last Ashes home series in England was pretty much sold out
They always are, even when England were getting hammered in the past

 

[Bewal Express]

That's exactly because of the way Stokes has lead the way with his team since becoming th captain...had it been Roots captaining, I doubt that would have been the case away from the London grounds...you just need to see the comments section on the BBC website to see how this has captured the nation...for once, the number of comments posted on websites for the BBC and those belonging to other newspapers are similar you would get on a football article

I think they are sold out everywhere and you could sell them out twice over. The problem comes against SL, NZ, PK and SA

 

[NeVerMind]

The last Ashes home series in England was pretty much sold out
They always are, even when England were getting hammered in the past

You missing the point...this Stoke's team is being discussed around water coolers in the work places which didn't happen before...it used to be footie this and footie that...for once, people actually discussing test cricket besides the likes of me and the overseas Indian workforce in my office...

 

[Bewal Express]

You missing the point...this Stoke's team is being discussed around water coolers in the work places which didn't happen before...it used to be footie this and footie that...for once, people actually discussing test cricket besides the likes of me and the overseas Indian workforce in my office...

It's not. Cricket fans love it but I work in a school and 98% of kids have no idea there is a game going on

 

[Saj]

England's players were in "absolute pieces" in the dressing room after their agonising two-wicket defeat by Australia, says captain Ben Stokes.

The tourists pulled off an unlikely victory on a dramatic final day of the first Test at Edgbaston.

England were strong favourites at one stage but Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon combined for a stunning ninth-wicket stand of 55 to take Australia home.

"We are absolutely devastated that we have lost," Stokes said.

"The lads are up there in absolute pieces, especially Robbo and Broady who put in an unbelievable shift there.

"But if that's not attracting people to the game we love then I don't know what will."

 

[topspin]

Misbah: "I taught Khawaja to bat like that" and you'll see all the Misbah fans latch on this and take his word as Gospel.

 

[Noman]

England's players were in "absolute pieces" in the dressing room after their agonising two-wicket defeat by Australia, says captain Ben Stokes.

The tourists pulled off an unlikely victory on a dramatic final day of the first Test at Edgbaston.

England were strong favourites at one stage but Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon combined for a stunning ninth-wicket stand of 55 to take Australia home.

"We are absolutely devastated that we have lost," Stokes said.

"The lads are up there in absolute pieces, especially Robbo and Broady who put in an unbelievable shift there.

"But if that's not attracting people to the game we love then I don't know what will."

England played too many silly shots - AUS was giving free singles But England want to hit every Bowl to boundry -

 

[gibsyhesperis]

It's not. Cricket fans love it but I work in a school and 98% of kids have no idea there is a game going on

Absolutely spot on.
I’m a consultant physician in London — no one was really talking about this today.
Totally different from when England are in a football tournament when the country comes to a standstill.
Also different from 2005 when at least there was coverage on free to air television.
The cricket aficionados will be enthralled but not the general public (cf football)

 

[NeVerMind]

It's not. Cricket fans love it but I work in a school and 98% of kids have no idea there is a game going on

And I work in an office and it is definitely being talked about more than it used to be before...even the casual English colleagues (I only watch T20 but can't stand test cricket) are interested for the first time...

 

[gibsyhesperis]

England's players were in "absolute pieces" in the dressing room after their agonising two-wicket defeat by Australia, says captain Ben Stokes.

The tourists pulled off an unlikely victory on a dramatic final day of the first Test at Edgbaston.

England were strong favourites at one stage but Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon combined for a stunning ninth-wicket stand of 55 to take Australia home.

"We are absolutely devastated that we have lost," Stokes said.

"The lads are up there in absolute pieces, especially Robbo and Broady who put in an unbelievable shift there.

"But if that's not attracting people to the game we love then I don't know what will."

But, but I thought Bazball was about not caring whether you win or lose as long as you entertained…..surely it was not yet another example of English exceptionalism

 

[kingusama92]

Incredible Test match and a well-deserved win for Australia.

Their fighting spirit was in full flow throughout the match.

 

[James]

An outstanding show put on by both teams. A classic Test match. Congratulations to Australia for the great win!

 

[gibsyhesperis]

An outstanding show put on by both teams. A classic Test match. Congratulations to Australia for the great win!

Perfect summary of the game.
Ultimately sport is about winning.
As John McEnroe once said, “first is first and second is nowhere”

 

[jnaveen1980]

Workload sharing by England was terrible. A reason why they lost this. They had to keep on using root even with 5 other bowlers.

 

[Kroll]

Pakistani fans with their usual famous quote :-

"I hope Khawaja scores runs but Australia loses the match."

Don't tar us all with same brush, I couldn't give a toss about that.

 

[Kroll]

and thats why bazball is a flawed concept

Bazball is good. The declaration was madness.

Yeah, it wasn't bazball that undid Eng, but the declaration.

 

[Kroll]

Congrats at OZ and [MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] who called it.

 

[jnaveen1980]

When it comes to Aussies Pantball works better than Bazball

 

[Rana]

Congrats at OZ and [MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] who called it.

Thanks but apparently I don’t know Test cricket and should stick to IPL

 

[Double Trouble]

England loss this test match by selecting a unfit 41 year old instead of going for Mark Wood instead.

 

[pakistani pride]

Questions will be asked now regarding that aggressive declaration. This is the 2nd instance of Bazball boomeranging on them. Surely that can’t be a ‘one side fits all’ strategy.

You cant do that vs Aus, that was such a stupid move, and that on day 1. The score was not even 400.

 

[jnaveen1980]

You cant do that vs Aus, that was such a stupid move, and that on day 1. The score was not even 400.

You can't do that against any side as long as you don't need to do. I remember Gilchrist did similar declaration against England when they were an ATG side. It backfired big time when they hunted down 315 runs.

 

[Rana]

England loss this test match by selecting a unfit 41 year old instead of going for Mark Wood instead.

Who are England’s fit players?

-Stokes plays like he came out of a hospital
-Moeen isn’t fit enough to play Test cricket
-Bairstow is still not 100%
-Archer is only fit for IPL season
-Wood can’t play 2 Tests in a row
-Leach has a back injury

England are carrying so many injuries. Anderson and Broad are the only ones hungry for Test caps

 

[Kroll]

Even a few more runs added in the 1st inns, Eng would not have lost if not won.

Think Eng underestimated Aus fighting spirit. We are not dealing with Pakistani mental midgets here!

 

[jnaveen1980]

Even a few more runs added in the 1st inns, Eng would not have lost if not won.

Think Eng underestimated Aus fighting spirit. We are not dealing with Pakistani mental midgets here!

They over-estimated their bowling resource. Atleast Stokes did. 41 year old unfit Anderson, Unfit Stokes, 37 year old Moeen Ali coming out of retirement. He thought they could take 20 wickets with this attack on a docile pitch. Backfired big time. Smith/Labu failed still they won the Test. That is indication of nature of the surface. Pakistan lost it on an even more flat pitch. So they thought they could do the same at home.

 

[jattafridi]

2 champion teams


Pat Cummins amazing performance
What a match

Australia will play WTC 2025 final lords

 

[CricLegend]

All hail Patty Cummins!

Sends English and Pakistani fans home crying :

Yes that’s right, straight after sending the Indians crying last week. Chin up

 

[jnaveen1980]

Yes that’s right, straight after sending the Indians crying last week. Chin up

Dude.. Ausralia has lost 4 straight series in a row to India. This one-off loss was expected given the squad selection, given the preparation. given the availability of Indian players.

 

[volcyz]

Dude.. Ausralia has lost 4 straight series in a row to India. This one-off loss was expected given the squad selection, given the preparation. given the availability of Indian players.

Lol

New copypasta meme

 

[jattafridi]

2nd test match England will win

 

[MenInG]

Highlights of the 5th Day

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[pakistani pride]

You can't do that against any side as long as you don't need to do. I remember Gilchrist did similar declaration against England when they were an ATG side. It backfired big time when they hunted down 315 runs.

AUS looking at history are so strong. I am sure ENG at home against any other team would have got away with it.

 

[MenInG]

Australia and England have been fined 40 per cent of their match fee and penalised two ICC World Test Championship points each for maintaining slow over-rates during the first Test in Birmingham.

Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanctions after the teams were ruled to be two overs short of their targets after time allowances were taken into consideration.

In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 20 per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

In addition, as per Article 16.11.2 of the ICC World Test Championship playing conditions, sides are penalised one point for each over short. Consequently, two World Test Championship points will be deducted from both teams’ points total.

Captains Pat Cummins and Ben Stokes pled guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanctions, so there was no need for formal hearings.

On-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Marais Erasmus, third umpire Chris Gaffaney and fourth umpire Mike Burns levelled the charges.

ICC