The Ashes: Story of the Series

England levelled the 2023 Men’s Ashes series with another tight victory at the Oval on Sunday, though Australia will return home with the urn for the eight successive year

It seems like we’ve had a year’s worth of cricket in the last seven weeks alone, so join us as we take a look back at what this scintillating series threw at us.

Edgbaston – Dozy Declarations and Lyon’s Revival 

The series started with Zak Crawley driving Pat Cummins for four off the very first ball – a ‘Starc’ contrast to what happened in the opening delivery of the last series down under. Australia kept England in check with five wickets before the 200 mark, only for former captain Joe Root to showcase his increasingly diverse array of shot selection in his brilliant 118 not-out.

The Australian innings primarily revolved around the stubbornness of Khawaja, whose 141 off 321 balls helped soften the blow of Stuart Broad dismissing Warner and Labuschagne in successive deliveries. Despite reaching 338 for the loss of 5 wickets, Robinson and Broad were able to skittle the tail and open up a slender 7-run first innings lead.

After some lengthy rain delays, the English openers were reluctantly hauled out by the umpires to face a period of intense new ball bowling amidst some angry looking overheads, with Crawley and Duckett both caught behind within 3 balls of each other. The Yorkshire duo of Root and Brook spearheaded an England counterattack on the morning of the fourth day, though their handsome 46s were not enough for England to bat the Australians out of the game, finishing on 273 all out and setting a score of 281 to win the first Test.

Australia started solidly, reaching 61-0 before a top order mini-collapse of 28-3 roared England back into the contest. When Ben Stokes bowled Khawaja for 65 and Joe Root caught Alex Carey off his own bowling, leaving the tourists eight down and still 54 short of their target, it seemed like the hosts would wrap up the game. Step in Nathan Lyon.

The off-spinner, ridiculed by the English for his costly fumble that cost them the third Test of the 2019 series, put on a brilliant ninth-wicket stand with captain Pat Cummins to see Australia over the line. 1-0 to the visitors.

Lord’s – Member Meltdowns and Stokes’ Assault

People had barely caught their breath from a relentless first Test before the sides faced off again at the home of cricket. England won the toss again and chose to bowl on a green-top with clouds in the sky, only for the pitch to prove somewhat deceiving. Australia, spearheaded by the brilliant Steve Smith, piled on 316-5 at the end of the first day, though an England fightback saw them dismiss the visitors for 416 on Day 2.

England started their reply brilliantly and, like in the first Test, should have batted their opponents out of the game, reaching 188-1 but eventually being bundled out for 325 amidst some shocking shot-selection against an obvious short-ball ploy. Australia led by 91 heading into the second innings.

Warner and Khawaja got the Aussies off to a good start again, though apart from Khawaja (77), nobody from the tourists could amass more than 34 runs. Stuart Broad and Josh Tongue – the latter making just his second appearance for England – impressed with the ball, with the hosts restricting the final seven batsmen to just 89 runs. The hosts needed 371 runs to level the series.

What followed was 13 overs of sheer dominance from an imperious Australian new-ball attack. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins had the ball swinging angrily in front of a stunned Lord’s crowd to leave England languishing at 45-4, but nobody could have predicted what would happen next.

Stokes and Duckett steadied the ship before the latter gloved to Carey attempting a hook. In came the under-fire Bairstow, only for Carey to incredibly and controversially stump the Yorkshire gloveman after he thought the ball was dead – leading to a fierce confrontation from the MMC members in the esteemed Long Room.

There’s no cliché about Ben Stokes’ tendency to deliver at the big moments that hasn’t been said already, but it was once again the Durham all-rounder who led the charge with one of the best fourth innings knocks of all time, eventually falling for 155 after blasting 9 sixes alongside a determined Stuart Broad. Mitchell Starc cleaned up the rest of the tail to give Australia a 43-run win and a 2-0 series lead.

Headingley – Wood and Woakes Woo Western Terrace

Only four days separated Sunday’s final day at Lord’s and Day 1 of the third Test, with England once again winning the toss and electing to bowl. That decision seemed to look justified when Smith tickled an inside edge to Bairstow off the bowling of Broad to leave Australia 85-4, only for a sensational run-a-ball century from Mitch Marsh to propel the tourists to 240-4. England eventually skittled the rest of the batting card for just 23 runs, with Mark Wood’s express pace doing the damage.

England’s reply was meek. The top order – with the exception of Zak Crawley (33) – failed to kick on, leaving the hosts 87-5 against another moving new ball. The impetus was again left with Ben Stokes, who began teeing off into the Western Terrace to catapult England to 237 all out – a deficit of 26 runs that they’d have probably taken an hour before.

A Chris Woakes-inspired England attack saw the hosts limit Australia to 170-8, before Travis Head (77) shared ninth and tenth wicket stands worth 54 to push the tourists up to 224 all out. England reached 27-0 at the end of the third day, needing 224 more runs.

Australia continued to plug away despite a batter’s surface on the fourth day and when Bairstow dragged on to leave England 171-6, the hosts were still 80 runs shy of their target. A controlled knock from Harry Brook (75) however calmed some of the nerves, and it was Chris Woakes and Mark Wood who held their nerve to lead England to a thrilling 3-wicket victory.

Old Trafford – Rain Ruins Rampant England

A relatively sizeable gap of eight days separated the third and fourth Test, though from the game’s outset it was apparent that it wasn’t a loss of momentum that was going to let England down – it was the grim Manchester weather.

England incredibly won the toss for a fourth time and chose to bowl, with grey skies providing more challenging batting conditions for the visitors. Five of the Australian top six however made scores of over 30 (with half centuries Labuschagne and Marsh) as the tourists put on a reasonable (or so it seemed) first innings score of 317, with Chris Woakes the pick of the bowlers with 5-62.

What followed was arguably the best representation of ‘Bazball’ the series witnessed, as England racked up their highest home Ashes score since 1985. Zak Crawley hit a blistering 189 whilst Joe Root (84) and a desperately unlucky Jonny Bairstow (99*) also made sublime contributions. Australia looked clueless in the field, with the score at one point reading 336-2, and it became evident that there was only one team who were trying to win the game.

Australia began their second innings trailing by 275 runs on Day 3, and were seemingly on the brink by stumps on 113/4 as Mark Wood once again tore through the top order. Sadly for England fans, they would only go onto take one more wicket over the remaining two days.

Rain delayed most of the fourth day but there was still enough respite from the rain to squeeze in a few dozen overs, but Marnus Labuschagne hit a gritty century to arrest the English momentum in a brilliant partnership of 103 with Mitchell Marsh. Australia reached 214/5 at close, and with Day 5 being a total washout, the visitors retained the Ashes for a fourth straight series.

The Oval – Brilliant Broad Bows Out

England knew they needed a victory to stop Australia winning an Ashes Test on their turf for the first time since 2001, but things started badly when they lost the toss for the first time in the series and got put into bat. They reached 184-3 thanks to Harry Brook and Moeen Ali steadying a top-order wobble, but lost their final seven wickets for just 99 runs, finishing on 283 all out.

Australia’s innings couldn’t have been more different to England’s; they started strongly (91-1), saw their middle order totally fall apart (185-7) but managed to nudge themselves narrowly ahead of England’s first innings score by putting on 110 for their final three wickets, with Steve Smith (71) the only batsmen to pass fifty.

The third day belonged to England. Five of their top six batsmen passed 40, with Zak Crawley (73), Joe Root (91) and Jonny Bairstow (78) picking up where they left off from Manchester. They hit 395 from just 82 overs, with Mitchell Starc and Todd Murphy both picking up four wickets, as they set their visitors an Oval-record 384 to win the Test and claim a 3-1 series victory. Legendary bowler Stuart Broad announced his retirement from cricket on the eve of the third day.

Australia began their record run chase unbelievably, reaching 140-0 by the morning of the fifth day. A dubious ball change however quite literally swung the momentum back in England’s favour as they sent each of the Aussie top three back to the pavilion for a combined 29 runs.

Australia however came roaring back into the content with a brilliant counterattacking partnership of 95 between Smith (54) and Travis Head (43), only for the irrepressible Woakes and Ali to dismantle the visitor’s middle order amidst jubilant scenes at the Oval. When a ninth wicket partnership between first Test-hero Cummins and Todd Murphy threatened to snatch the game from England again, the scene was set for the retiring Stuart Broad to pick up the final two wickets of the series and wrap up a heart-warming victory for the hosts.