NEW DELHI: ‘Test cricket at its finest’, ‘An Ashes match for the ages’: Former cricketers, commentators, consultants and followers could not cease gushing after Australia snatched victory from England‘s clutches in an exhilarating opening Test of the Ashes sequence at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
Australia captain Pat Cummins sealed a exceptional two-wicket victory for his facet in an exhilarating climax to a gripping five-day battle.
The guests, set a 281 victory goal, started a rain-delayed day on 107 for 3 however their probabilities slipping away after they had been diminished to 227/8. But Cummins, in partnership with Nathan Lyon, launched a fightback and secured victory with an unbeaten 44. In suffocating rigidity and with each ball like a mini-drama, Cummins struck the ultimate boundary due to a fumble by Harry Brook to offer his facet a 1-0 lead within the sequence.
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Cummins the hero as Australia edge England in Ashes thriller
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<p>Australia captain Pat Cummins led his facet to a dramatic two-wicket win over England within the first Test at Edgbaston on Tuesday.<br /></p>
<p>The Ashes holders had been 209/7, nonetheless 72 runs shy of a victory goal of 281, when quick bowler Cummins got here in to bat after first-innings century-maker Usman Khawaja fell for a painstaking 65.</p>
<p>And after Alex Carey was out to go away Australia 227/8, the vacationers nonetheless required one other 54 extra runs with Nathan Lyon the brand new batsman.<br /></p>
<p>But Cummins-Lyon’s unbroken stand of 55 noticed Australia residence in a match to rival the stress of England’s two-run win in a celebrated 2005 Ashes conflict at Edgbaston.<br /></p>
<p>Cummins, who completed on 44 not out, hit the profitable boundary when he edged Ollie Robinson to 3rd man the place a diving Harry Brook knocked the ball over the rope.<br /></p>
<p>Lyon, whose missed run out contributed to England’s beautiful one-wicket win at Headingley within the drawn 2019 Ashes sequence in England, was 16 not out.<br /></p>
<p>Victory left World Test champions Australia 1-0 up within the five-match sequence as they bid for a primary Ashes marketing campaign win in England in 22 years.<br /></p>
<p>This was simply England’s third defeat in 14 Tests beneath captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.<br /></p>
<p>England had been left to rue a sequence of missed probabilities all through the match, none extra so than when Lyon was dropped on simply two by Stokes at sq. leg.<br /></p>
<p>After Tuesday’s morning session was washed out by rain, Australia resumed on 107/3 with veteran seamer Broad having eliminated Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith late on Monday’s fourth day.<br /></p>
<p>But Khawaja was nonetheless there on 34 not out because the 36-year-old opener grew to become solely the second Australian, after Kim Hughes at Lord’s in 1980, to bat on all 5 days of a Test.<br /></p>
<p>Australia reached tea at 183/5, however had been shortly diminished to 192/6 when Robinson had all-rounder Cameron Green (28) chopping on to finish a stand of 49 with Khawaja.<br /></p>
<p>Stokes struck when he had Khawaja, who made 141 in Australia’s first innings, chopping on to finish a 197-ball keep.<br /></p>
<p>Cummins, nonetheless, reignited Australia’s pursuit by launching Root for 2 straight sixes earlier than ending the job himself.<br /></p>
Australia’s dramatic win within the first Test ensured a hugely-anticipated Ashes sequence received off to an exhilarating begin.
Here’s how former cricketers, commentators and followers had expressed in regards to the nerve-wracking match:
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
