The Ashes 2023 is about to end with England and Australia playing their fifth and final match. Having taken a 2-1 series lead, Australia has already secured the historical trophy. If Australia wins the fifth test against England, they will secure the series victory for the first time in 22 years on English soil.
However, both teams already played the first innings of the fifth test. In response to England’s 283 runs, Australia scored 295 in the first innings and took the lead of 12 runs for 10 wickets. England will start their second innings tomorrow.
Toss: Captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl first in the last game of the Ashes.
England had a good start but couldn’t continue
Losing the toss, England started their batting innings with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. The two openers looked confident between the wickets as they were heading toward a good score. Both batters tried to keep the run rate above 5.00. However, their partnership came to an end in the 11.6th over after adding 62 runs. Opener Ben Duckett lost his wicket to Mitchel Marsh, scoring 41 off 41 balls.
After that, the home team lost two more wickets in a very short time. Aussie captain Pat Cummins picked up Zak Crawley, while Josh Hazlewood bowled out Joe Root. Therefore, England became three men down in 73 runs.
Harry Brook, however, played a vital role for England. With Moeen Ali, he made a fantastic partnership of 111 runs for the home team. Although Moeen Ali departed the crease after scoring 34 off 47, Harry Brook picked up a much-needed half-century. Before losing the wicket, Harry Brook scored the highest 85 runs for the Three Lions.
Mitchell Starc, then, came in and destroyed the batting lineup of England. He picked up four wickets, while Josh Hazlewood and Todd Murphy got two wickets for each. Due to their aggression, England lost all their wickets in just 283 runs.
1st Innings of Australia
Australia’s first innings was not also decent enough. A total of 59 runs came from the opening partnership between Usman Khawaja and David Warner. But Warner departed with 24 runs. On the other hand, Khawaja missed the half-century only for three runs. Stuard Board picked him up in the 52nd over.
Australia’s innings were quite similar to England’s. Aussie batters couldn’t enough runs. But Steven Smith showed his class and showed how to play in the difficult situation. He carried the team alone. Before losing the wicket to Chris Woakes, Smith scored 71 runs.
In the end, Australia were able to take the lead. Before being all-out, Australia scored 295 runs. As a result, the Aussies are in a lead of 12 runs after the first innings.
