Ben Stokes ‘drops Ashes’ as Australia steals famous win in First Test
Ben Stokes made a mess of the final session as Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon led Australia to a back-from-the-dead victory in the First Test.
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Even the most optimistic Aussie cricket fan had given up hope.
When Ben Stokes knocked over innings lynchpin Usman Khawaja with Australia still 72 runs from victory and the lights on at Edgbaston, all seemed lost.
It had been an unconvincing chase all day as a gripping Test crawled to a finish. Khawaja made scoring look almost impossible for much of his 197-ball innings and England always took a wicket before trouble arrived.
Scott Boland hung around to score 20, but Travis Head (16) was spun out by Moeen Ali and Cameron Green (28) chopped on to Ollie Robinson just when Australia looked like grabbing control of the contest.
An Aussie win that could go some way to exorcising the demons of a one-run defeat in the 2005 Test at this ground seemed even less likely when a moment of genius from Stokes delivered the wicket of Alex Carey to leave the hosts needing just two more wickets with 54 runs to play with.
But from that point it went haywire for England - and its legendary leader - as Australia stole a sensational win to take first blood in the series.
Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon combined for a 55-run partnership - a stand that will immediately enter Ashes folklore - when all seemed lost to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.
“That’s special. Bloody special. I’m lost for words,” Lyon said.
While Cummins followed his starring role with the ball in England’s second innings with an unbeaten 44, his opposite number endured a brutal finish to the match after earlier looking like the hero.
The new ball became available to England at the start of the 81st over but an unexpected decision by Stokes to stick with Joe Root’s spin paid dividends.
Root had been attacked by Alex Carey and Pat Cummins after Khawaja’s departure - and had leaked eight runs from his previous over.
But Stokes stuck with his man and Carey fell into the trap, trying to smash Root down the ground but hitting it straight to the bowler — who took a sharp chance to leave Australia 8/227.
Stokes and Root should have called it at that point but persisted for one more Root over and it cost 14 runs as Cummins twice cleared the fence to leave Australia needing 37 runs.
The England skipper then surprised again as he handed the old ball to Stuart Broad.
Again his wisdom almost secured a wicket, but after Broad tempted Lyon into a pull shot he should have never played Stokes grassed the opportunity in the deep.
Anyone wanna tell Stokes he's just dropped the Ashes? pic.twitter.com/IyIjAYKIps
— Alex Blair (@alexblair_1) June 20, 2023
The Aussies took seven runs from Broad’s return over as former England skipper Nasser Hussain asked “why not the new ball?” in commentary.
Former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting was also perplexed. “These new batsman have to feel more comfortable againt this old ball, they have to,” Ponting said.
Stokes gave Ollie Robinson one over with the old ball too before finally taking the new cherry with Australia needing 27 runs to win.
But Cummins and Lyon (16 not out) were in a groove and didn’t offer another chance as they flicked and smashed their way to victory.
Stokes will now be reminded forever of his decision to declare England’s first innings short with two wickets in hand and perhaps be asked why he ignored Jimmy Anderson with the game on the line.
He said he had “no regrets” about the declaration but former England skipper Michael Vaughan probably had it right when he said: “I guarantee if England are in the same position in the first innings at Lord’s next week, Ben Stokes won’t declare.”
Failing to finish off Australia in a match where star batsmen Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne barely contributed is a big miss for the home side, which lost for just the third time in 14 matches under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum
Australia wasn’t perfect by any means and may consider picking Mitchell Starc for the Second Test, which begins at Lords in a week’s time.
But in the end this was the perfect start to their attempt to win an away series against England for the first time in two decades. Cummins described the win as the best he had ever been a part of. Enough said.
2.40am - Khawaja’s marathon stand ends and Australia is in trouble
Expect plenty of discussion about Usman Khawaja’s scoring rate after he was bowled by Ben Stokes for 65 off 197 balls.
Khawaja chopped on to leave Australia 7/209 - still in need of a further 72 runs.
He was the lynchpin of the innings and contributed more runs than any other batsman, but Khawaja scored so slowly - and ran so poorly between the wickets - that there was room for debate about the effectiveness of his approach.
He’s left Alex Carey and the tail with a mountain of work to do and England can look forward to a new ball in a few overs, when Stuart Broad will be incredibly difficult to deal with.
2.10am - Green chops on and England’s back in charge
Cameron Green has chopped on an Ollie Robinson delivery just when Australia was starting to look the more likely winner.
Green was bowled for 28 when he partnership with Khawaja was just one run short of a half century - and now England can sniff victory.
Now that Alex Carey has joined Khawaja at the crease, the hosts are just one wicket away from the tail and are still 89 runs in front.
1.30am - England villain dragged away from Khawaja
Footage of Ollie Robinson being dragged away from Usman Khawaja by teammate Jimmy Anderson emerged from the first drinks break.
Robinson, who became an instant Ashes villain when he gave Khawaja a four-letter send-off in the first innings, apppeared to be at it again.
Khawaja appeared to be saying something in the direction of the England team when Robinson marched over.
But he was quickly pulled back by Anderson. “No love lost at all between Ollie Robinson and Usman Khawaja,” former England captain Nasser Hussain said in commentary.
A mixture of patient batting, tight bowling and a well-set field contributed to a snail-paced start to day five.
Khawaja faced 41 deliveries before drinks were taken and scored just three runs, while Travis Head had managed one from his first 13.
Australia seemed determined to see off Stuart Broad in the hope batting would get easier once England was forced to turn to spin.
And it appeared to as Moeen Ali delivered a half-tracker with his first ball and Head sent it to the boundary.
Head scored 10 runs off the first three balls of the over to take Australia past the halfway mark in its chase, but disaster struck late in the over as he sent a nick to Joe Root at first slip to go for 16 off 24.
But Khawaja marched on, passing 50 from 143 balls to remain the key wicket.
Cameron Green also played in composed fashion, combining with Khawaja to add 40 runs before tea to leave the visitors needing 98 runs from 38 overs in the final session with five wickets in hand.
11.50pm - Boland’s brave knock ends
Scott Boland managed to see off the first seven overs of the morning before falling for a Stuart Broad trap.
Australia’s comfortable survival of the opening spells forced an England rethink for Broad’s fourth over of the morning. England placed fielders close to the bat and Broad bounced Boland with the first ball.
He ducked under it with ease but the follow-up was a peach, drawing him into a drive which he nicked to Jonny Bairstow.
Still, it was a critical innings by the tailender as he not only survived on day four, but soaked up significant time today to give the middle order the best chance.
Scott Boland averages in 4th innings of Tests
— Swamp (@sirswampthing) June 20, 2023
20.00 with the bat
9.16 with the ball
#Ashes#ENGvAUS
10.35pm — We have a start time!
Play will begin at 2.15pm local time (11.15pm AEST).
There will be at least 67 overs to be bowled in the remainder of the day and a result is looking likely.
Mark Taylor said he believed the conditions would make the ball swing early but that the moisture on the ball might make it tougher on the English bowlers.
What a finish this is set up to be.
9.45pm — The covers are coming off
Things are starting to look good at Edgbaston as the covers are coming off and the umpires are out inspecting things.
Cricinfo reported that it wasn’t an “official inspection” — with the real inspection to take place at 1.20pm (10.20pm AEST).
But the forecast is looking pretty good this afternoon so there may be a game yet, even with some showers expected throughout the rest of the day.
8pm — No play before lunch
The first session has been completely wiped out.
But at it is right now, 15 overs of play will have been lost — taking it from 98 overs to 83 — while lunch will be taken half an hour earlier at 12.30pm local time (9.30pm AEST).
Lunch goes for 40 minutes so if everything goes to plan, play is set to start at 1.10pm local time (10.10pm AEST).
7.12pm — What happens if rain intervenes
The rain is lighter according to some of the Aussie journos in Birmingham but AAP’s Scott Bailey reported it’s “meant to be a few hours” before the rain stops.
He added that the day starts losing overs at 11.30am local time (8.30pm AEST) and will lose another over every four minutes.
But play can also extend as long as it needs to get complete the overs required and it’s set to be a 9.30pm (6.30am AEST) sunset.
Go away rain!
6pm — Last thing cricket world wants to see
The first Test is on a knife’s edge but the cricket gods are cruel.
The rain has set in over night and it’s not looking spectacular at the ground.
Images of puddles all over the outfield mean that there’ll be plenty of work to do in the outfield to clean up the ground.
Fair chance of a delayed start. Ashes. pic.twitter.com/1UkBrAzwi4
— Peter Lalor (@plalor) June 20, 2023
The rain reportedly began bucketing down around 8am local time in London with the Met Office issuing thunderstorm warnings at 4.30am.
The Met reports that there is a 90 per cent chance of rain at 10am local time (7pm AEST), and 80 per cent at 11pm (8pm AEST) when the day is expected to start.
At midday (9pm AEST) the current forecast is 60 per cent chance of rain, while it’s expected to be drizzling by 1pm (10pm AEST).
The thunderstorm warning is ends at 10.30am local time (7.30pm AEST).
But the teams will need the rain to stop before the ground could be cleaned up so this could be a long day waiting and a short day of cricket.
SEN’s Bharat Sundaresan tweeted: “It’s gloomy and rainy in Birmingham as scheduled. The rain though could play as much a part in a potentially epic finish as any other factor on the field”
Former England star Kevin Pietersen posted simply: “Urgh” with a rain cloud emoji.
Originally published as Ben Stokes ‘drops Ashes’ as Australia steals famous win in First Test
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