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The Ashes series between England and Australia is one of the oldest rivalries in the history of cricket. In the last Ashes series in 2023, Australia who were coming after winning the World Test championship that time, went on to register a thrilling win in the first Test match of the series at Edgbaston in Birmingham on the final day on June 20. Aussie skipper Pat Cummins hit the winning boundary on the third session along with Nathan Lyon at the crease as the duo put up an unbeaten partnership of 55 runs for the ninth wicket.
Talking about the match, batting first after winning the toss, England declared their first innings on 393 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Joe Root was top scorer with an unbeaten 118* runs off 172 balls hitting seven fours and four sixes. Apart from that, Jonny Bairstow contributed with run-a-ball 78 runs hitting 12 boundaries. For Australia, Nathan Lyon took a four–wicket haul while Josh Hazlewood put two in his bag. In reply, Australia were bowled out for 386 runs giving England a small lead of seven runs in the first innings, Usman Khawaja top scored with 141(321) runs hitting 14 fours and three sixes.
Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon’s unbeaten partnership guided Australia to thrilling win
After taking a lead of seven runs, England were bowled out for 273 runs in the second innings giving Australia a target of 281 runs. Harry Brook and Joe Root scored 46 runs each while skipper Ben Stokes scored 43 runs. For Australia, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon scalped four wickets each.
Chasing the winning target, Australia got a good start as Usman Khawaja (65 runs) and David Warner (36 runs) added 61 runs for the first wicket. After that, Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 227/8. After that, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon took charge of the innings as the duo put up a partnership of 55 runs as Australia clinched a thrilling win with just 27 balls remaining on the final day of the Test match.
