Last Updated: June 21, 2023, 00:20 IST
Pat Cummins struck the winning boundary. (AP Photo)
Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon stitched an unbroken partnership of 55 runs for the ninth wicket to seal a tense win
Pat Cummins stepped up, with the bat, as he steered Australia to a famous win on the fifth day of the first Test of Ashes 2023 played at Edgbaston. With England steadily taking control and inching closer with quick wickets in the final session, Cummins struck an unbeaten 44 and was well supported by Nathan Lyon who made 16 not out in an unbroken partnership of 55 runs for the ninth wicket.
The pair helped Australia recover from 227/8 when Alex Carey departed leaving the tail exposed. Cummins then struck four fours and two sixes while Lyon hit two fours with the tourists launching a counterattack.
Cummins struck the winning boundary followed that by dropping his helmet and bat in wild celebration before running towards Lyon to lift him up, celebrating the thrilling win.
After Tuesday’s morning session was washed out by rain, Australia lost both nightwatchman Scott Boland and frontline batsman Travis Head when play finally got underway.
But at tea Australia were 183/5, needing a further 98 runs to reach a target of 281, with 38 overs remaining in the last session.
Left-handed opener Usman Khawaja, who ended his decade-long wait for an Ashes hundred in England with 141 in the first innings, followed with a fighting 65 off 197 as he was dislodged by England captain Ben Stokes.
Khawaja and Cameron Green (28) had taken Australia close with a 49-run stand before Ollie Robinson got rid of the latter.
Australia resumed on 107/3 after veteran England seamer Stuart Broad had removed Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, the world’s two top-ranked Test batsmen, late on Monday’s fourth day.
But Khawaja was still there on 34 and by taking guard on Tuesday the 36-year-old became only the second Australian, after Kim Hughes at Lord’s in 1980, to bat on all five days of a Test.
Boland, sent in as nightwatchman on Monday, had already surpassed his previous highest Test score when, on 20, he fell to Broad, driving at a swinging delivery only to be caught behind.
But with Australia on 121-4 and the sun starting to break through the clouds, Boland had done his job with the bat on a pitch previously labelled “soulless” by Broad.
Broad went round the wicket to Khawaja and almost beat him with a yorker.
England did have another wicket when Moeen Ali, struggling with a finger injury, struck on his Birmingham home ground.
Moeen’s first ball of the day, a rank long hop, was pulled for four by Travis Head.
But his fifth was a classic off-spinning delivery to the left-hander, taking the outside edge on its way to Joe Root at slip as a near capacity crowd erupted in celebration at Head’s exit for 16.
The wicket reduced Australia to 143-5, rewarding the faith of England captain Ben Stokes in Moeen, who had been recalled after nearly two years of red-ball retirement following a series-ending injury to first-choice spinner Jack Leach.
Khawaja, however, held firm against an England attack lacking an express fast bowler to complete a 143-ball fifty including seven fours.
The second Test starts from June 28 at Lord’s.
With AFP Inputs
