1st Ashes Test England v Australia June 16-20 1930hrs @ Edgbaston

[JP Sauce]

Ah well, bit reminiscent of the confusion at the finish of the 99 World Cup semi final.

My immediate thoughts with the shot were if they run 2 scores were tied and we can’t lose, but then suddenly we had won.

Very true but as that shot went out and the initial commentary was of a fielder recovery, my eyes lit up and the ball finding the rope brought a special kind of delight.

Yep on both counts. Immensely satisfying but less “replayable” than other famous wins. Will never be forgotten though!

 

[Mr Meow]

Yep on both counts. Immensely satisfying but less “replayable” than other famous wins. Will never be forgotten though!

The Aussies in the crowd behind the fence definitely added a buzz of joy.

 

[HODGEYROAD]

We finally win one of those thrilling Tests. Going to work on zero sleep and all ****ing worth it.

 

[catpremier 07]

****ing hell what a score to wake up to! You beauty

 

[Shifty1]

The early declaration showed us no respect and that's what you get. Suck it up Spazball.

No regard either.

 

[10571z]

So many teams underrate the value of non batsman being able to knock out 10-20 runs. They quickly add up. Boland with 20 was valuable at the end

 

[ams4crows]

This one of you lads??

 

[Mr Meow]

Lyon after that lofted shot over mid on walked past Cummins, face towards the ground, and murmured "Nice shot Garry". Under that kind of pressure, it almost seemed like the levity of two bowlers at the crease released the pressure valve a bit. It was England who seemed under the pump as the deficit was reduced a tiny piece at a time.

 

[Mr Meow]

The Lyon interview was telling in another way. When he came out Cummins said "we've done it before (made 50 together), it's just a different setting" (forgive any paraphrasing) and it reinforced that self belief evident through the whole partnership. I haven't agreed with every single field setting but it's hard to deny that by the end Cummins leadership and calmness guided us home in a difficult situation.

 

[Moonwatcher]

******* hell what a score to wake up to! You beauty

Posts from people waking up are going to be great reading

 

[Mr Meow]

For those wondering about my health, I'm an expat living in the UK with the days off to watch the conclusion:

A telling statistics perhaps is that the aggregate ratings from The Guardian (UK), were 72 to Australian players, 75 to England. Yet the narrative has largely been that Stokes dragged a workmanlike (11-2 of their matches since he took over) side to a competitive match against a side of stars. If their players had a marginal performance edge, at home, it doesn't make sense that the Aussies lead by a buffoon could have won. There must have been some tactical edge that overall in fact went to the Australian team.

I'm not for a second suggesting Cummins was flawless this test. But neither was Stokes. The side with the "best" three batsman had none of them contribute much, yet they prevailed away from home. Perhaps the leadership by and large was okay.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

England lost that test by declaring early

 

[BACCS]

I had been on a tour all day out of Rome and was lucky enough to be on the bus ride to our final stop when the final 1.5 hours happened, felt very privileged to watch every ball live and not lose any sleep! Ran out of my roaming data, but well worth it . Also full kudos to those that stayed up and were able to watch history , I don’t think I could have if I was home.

 

[Rocco sifreddi]

England lost that test by declaring early

Shocking decision even before Australia batted.

 

[The Passenger]

Yep on both counts. Immensely satisfying but less “replayable” than other famous wins. Will never be forgotten though!

I dunno... Zac Crawley has a test average of 28 yet struts around like he's Ricky Ponting so seeing that shit eating grin get wiped off his face when he can't save the boundary is pretty replayable.

 

[beside the seaside]

Will people still call Cummins a shit captain after that?

 

[Moonwatcher]

Thank god Stokes bowling Ussie didn't win England the match. Wouldn't have heard the end of it.

 

[Richard Pryor]

I'm absolutely stunned to be sitting here!

Feel like this is the first heartstopper test finish where we've actually gotten up.

 

[BACCS]

Adelaide 2006 was just a generational team showing their will. We were in awe.

This squad required natural development, this was a 10 year build with pieces slowly coming together. This was a genuine miracle.

This is starting to turn into a generational team as well. Strong in every facet and have the highest rated batsman and bowlers, Carey closing in to be the best keeper/batsman too.

 

[barrackers]

Good to wake up to news of a win and a great win from where we were at 7 & 8 down! Even better (and surprising) that it took a 50 run stand from Cummins & Lyon to get us there.


While England’s aggressive approach is admirable I’m not yet sold on it and would like to see how it stands up on a pitch with some life and pace. Taylor summed it up well on day 1 when he said something along the lines of if you take risks it’s only a matter of time before one goes against you.

Luck seemed to go England’s way throughout (for example Root’s premeditated slog on day 4), they got the best batting conditions on day 1 and seemed to get good conditions to get themselves set with the bat on the other days with one exception. While I reckon we should have got 50-80 more runs in our first innings in not doing a bit of luck went our way with England losing 2 early wickets between rain delays on day 3.

Hopefully the terribly flat slow nature of the pitch doesn’t get lost in the closeness of the outcome. Pitches like that aren’t good for the sport.

 

[Foucault1989]

At least England can pat themselves on the back for being 1-0 up in the moral Ashes.

Yeah it the ashes is a draw they do a boundary count back. All part of their plan

 

[Mr Meow]

I dunno... Zac Crawley has a test average of 28 yet struts around like he's Ricky Ponting so seeing that s**t eating grin get wiped off his face when he can't save the boundary is pretty replayable.

It doesn't leave when he's in the dressing rooms, as well. If anything this series we are the polite "You do you, mate" team.

 

[Mr Meow]

Thank god Stokes bowling Ussie didn't win England the match. Wouldn't have heard the end of it.

Everything Stokes related would have reached idolisation mania. It already is, but given how many fields and such did end up in a wicket, it would've been overbearing.

The interesting thing will be whether the tactics in the last 90 minutes draw criticism. Forget the declaration or batting approaches. The field was defensive and naive. Cummins and Lyon largely prodded away to a team solely reliant on stupid hook and pull shot slogs. The beauty of BazBall adoration is that approaches like this will fall under the radar and may even occur again.

 

[El Doederino]

3 number 11’s, eh Ollie?

 

[Chrispiesssss]

OMFGGGGGG JUST WOKE UP AFTER CAREY WICKET!!!!!!!!! OMGGG