The first Ashes 2019 Test at the Edgbaston turned out to be a wonderful battle between the hosts England and visitors Australia, who came back from 122/8 in first innings and won the match by 251 runs.
England had to chase 385 runs with 90 overs to survive on the last day but had Nathan Lyon to contend with and he proved to be the match-winner for the Australian side.
Tim Paine had won the toss and chose to bat first, but Stuart Broad’s 5/86 and three wickets from Woakes reduced Australia to 122/8, when Steve Smith scored an amazing 144 and with Travis Head’s 35 and Peter Siddle’s 44 took the team to 284. England replied with 374 runs with Rory Burns making 144 and Ben Stokes making 50 with valuable contributions from Woakes (37*) and Broad (29).
The second Australian innings belonged to Steve Smith again, who made 142 runs and Matthew Wade who contributed 110 with Travis Head making 51 and Australia declared on 487/7, setting a target of 398 runs for England to chase.
Nathan Lyon was said to be a threat for the home side on a pitch that turned on 5th day. He proved to be deadly, as he picked 6/49, and 9 for the match, with Pat Cummins helping out with 4/32, bowling out England for 146 and winning the match by 251 runs, breaching the fortress.
The Cricket Fraternity was amazed at the recovery from Australia to register such a dominant win and reserved special praise for Steve Smith whose twin centuries were the reason for Australia going 1-0 up in the 5-match series.
Here are some tweets:
