Ben Stokes laments dropped catch that decides Ashes opener

The tables were turned on regular matchwinner Ben Stokes in Birmingham and the England captain knows he’ll never forget one moment.

At Headingley in 2019, Nathan Lyon fluffed a run-out chance that could have ended the Ben Stokes batting blast that won England an unforgettable Ashes Test.

In 2023 at Edgbaston, Stokes dropped a catch, albeit a difficult one, off a skied ball from Lyon, when he was on just two runs, which allowed the the spinner and his captain Pat Cummins to secure a victory that seemed unimaginable.

The sliding doors moment in Birmingham late on day five was not lost on Stokes, now the England captain, who reflected on the “shoulda, coulda, woulda” play that, for one of the few times in his career, didn’t go his way.

“Yeah, god, its amazing. Going back to Headingley with Gaz (Lyon) dropping the ball over the stumps. It‘s amazing how the world comes around,” Stokes said after losing the opening Ashes Test.

“I drop that catch and he’s not out at the end. It’s mad how things go around, isn’t it?

“God. I‘m reliving it in my head now. The ball was in my hand, just didn’t manage to make it stick. One of those shoulda, coulda, woulda moments.

“Would have been a good catch, though, wouldn’t it?”

Nathan Lyon fumbles the ball and misses a run-out opportunity on Jack Leach in 2019. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Australian captain Pat Cummins, who hit the winning runs in Australia’s epic final-day chase of 281, coming in a 55-run partnership with Lyon, who finished unbeaten on 16, declared the ghosts of that 2019 Test in Leeds loomed large in his mind.

While the location demanded comparisons to the 2005 series, when Australia lost at Edgbaston by just two runs in an epic, Cummins said all he was thinking about was the match three years ago when the Aussies lost what seemed the unlosable that contributed to a drawn series.

“There‘s been a lot of talk about 2005 this week, but I think we were all about 10 years old when that happened,” Cummins said

“2019 is probably the one we look at the most – that 2-all at the end of the series felt like unfinished business.

“We’d been on the other side of the pain last series,

“What a wonderful Test match this was, really hard fought, one of those ones that when you‘re on the other side it really hurts. It feels like one that got away, so it’s a pretty happy dressing room in there at the moment to be 1-up in the series.

“A lot of those guys were there at Headingley and it feels like we clinched one today that was out of our grasp there for a little while – it‘s pretty satisfying.”

Lyon and Pat Cummins were the heroes this time around. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Man of the match Usman Khawaja didn’t shy away from being a nervous wreck as the Australians lost eight wickets and overs started to run out.

But he said it made the victory that much more memorable beyond his own 206 runs in the game.

“I‘m not gonna lie, I was absolutely s**tting myself for the last five minutes there,” Khawaja said at the post-match presentations.

“It’s so heart-wrenching. When you’re playing and you’re in it, you’re fine, but when you’re watching it from up there, you know how the fans felt. But that was an unbelievable game.

“I watched 2005 Edgbaston as a young kid on TV, I stayed up late, and I was there when Stokesy played an unbelievable innings in the last Ashes, but this has definitely got to be one of my favourite Test matches I‘ve ever played.”

Usman Khawaja celebrates with his family. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images