Contrasting philosophies and courage revealed: Edgbaston was Ashes Test cricket at its purest

In England, Ashes cricket just matters more. Careers are so often defined by the five games against Australia that come round every couple of years. Just look at how far some of the England side who played in Brisbane 18 months ago are from the current England set-up. Until you’ve done it against Australia, you’ve not really done it. And fail to do it in the Ashes, and you’re more often than not done.

Part of the hype, especially in those Tests in England, is how regularly they provide genuinely thrilling contests. This was Test cricket at its purest. The actor Russell Crowe, cousin of the late great Martin, was once asked about his love of cricket on Sky Sports. He explained that sport piques the interest of the masses because of how it elevates virtues that we rate in everyday life – industry, courage, creativity, for example – and that no sport comes close to seeing those virtues at play than Test cricket.

The final day, just like the four that came before it, was so much more than a test of skill and mettle. It was a clash of two diametrically opposed philosophies with competing interpretations of the hierarchies of those virtues. Australia basically went nowhere in the first hour, but neither did England. Australia scored 21 runs for the loss of just their nightwatchman Scott Boland by the first drinks break; on Monday morning, England scored 93 by drinks.

Confronted by the stagnation, Ben Stokes threw the ball to Moeen Ali. A mercurial, unpredictable and surprisingly frequent fourth innings match-winner at the best of times, but today nursing a finger injury that had proven prohibitive so far after a two-year break from the game. It was a punt – Moeen would almost certainly have an impact on the scoring rate, but would he prise out a wicket from nowhere as well? His first delivery was a rank long-hop, an overdue release of the pressure valve that yielded Australia’s first boundary off the middle of the bat all day. The next two deliveries saw six more subtracted from the target; 6.7 per cent of the remaining runs wiped out in a heartbeat. Maybe this was one hubristic roll of the dice too many.

Two deliveries later, Moeen let one rip to take Travis Head’s outside edge – England finally had their first recognised batter of the day and suddenly, Australia’s excessive caution that almost had a smugness to it, was in the firing line. It’s a day five pitch, there are going to be balls with you’r name on it. You surely can’t just contain.

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At the other end, there was Usman Khawaja stubbornly going about his business, trusting his own process as much as England trust theirs. On what was still a painfully docile surface, his modus operandi was accumulation. The core tenet of England’s record-breaking summer of chasing in 2022 was to get the job done before the second new ball comes into the equation. Even when they chased 378 at Edgbaston, they were shaking hands in the 77th over. On the same ground, England’s method didn’t once cross Khawaja’s mind. And to be fair, as the holder of literally the highest average for an opening batter of all time, who’s going to argue with him? It had the feeling of a football team playing away from home, trying to nick a result late on. Hang on in there, stay in the game and hope that the chaos of the final hour falls in your favour.

Stokes made a similarly bold decision just as we approached the final hour. Joe Root had manfully held up an end with Moeen unable to bowl with control since the injury to his finger. He’d not taken a wicket himself but his 10-over spell for 15 surely played more than just a supporting act in the demises of Green and Khawaja, both of whom chopped on looking to find space behind square on the off side. With the new ball available, Stokes kept Root – on paper his seventh most threatening bowler – on with the old ball, asking Anderson, Broad and Robinson to hold fire for the moment. Initially, it looked like an inspired decision. Carey drilled one straight into Root’s hands, England were two wickets from victory. But England persisted with Root and the short-ball ploy from the seamers instead of using the new ball, and Australia counter-punched. 21 runs off the next two overs, Australia needed just 30 more.

So much of sporting analysis is almost comically retrospective, verdicts swing dramatically depending on the bounce of the ball, or the thickness of an edge, or a catch that doesn’t stick in your warrior-captain’s freakish mitt. There are so many individual decisions that can be interrogated. The audacity of England’s declaration, Australia’s almost unprecedentedly defensive new-ball fields, all the little games of cat and mouse played out in the second half of the game, England’s own stubbornness in sticking to the bouncer tactics against Lyon and Cummins.

While there are some decisions you can contest – England’s bolshy declaration more than any other – each side’s brand of cricket broadly fits the players they’ve got. England were favourites going into the final hour of the Test. The knives will be out from some of the Bazball naysayers but they were almightily close to going 1-0 up.

A common mistake when judging a Test match is going purely off the excitement of its final hour, ignoring the 29 before it. Thrilling finishes help us overlook what can be quite run-of-the-mill Tests. The 2023 Edgbaston Test is of a different breed. Seeing two teams with totally contrasting methodologies going toe-to-toe for five days, exchanging the initiative throughout, with barely anything between them after five days was everything we wished for entering this series.

In England, Ashes cricket matters more. Not for the result, but the spectacle. In Australia, it’s been more than a generation since we’ve had a genuinely close Ashes series. More often than not, they’re pretty good value in England. We have been treated to the mother of all first acts. And there are still four more of these to come.