It was the rain that ultimately confirmed that the urn would remain in Australian hands for another two and a half years but how did we get to this point?
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Australia retained the Ashes after a final day washout in Manchester deprived England from the chance of bowling their way to a series-levelling victory. But while the rain can be blamed for their failure to get over the line in Manchester, it cannot be for their overall series predicament.
After all, England, a side characterised by their win-at-all-costs approach have only won one of the first four Tests of the series. Here are eight moments where the 2023 Ashes were lost for England:
Leaving runs out there at Edgbaston
The first innings declaration was at the very least contentious. Joe Root was seeing it like a football and we saw at Old Trafford how quickly late-innings runs can change the complexion of a contest with Jonny Bairstow adding 86 runs for the final two wickets with only Stuart Broad and James Anderson for company; how many could Root have added at Edgbaston? It was a flat pitch where par was at the very least 400, more likely more and England volunteered to prematurely end their first innings. There’s a case to be made that actually, the declaration gave England a little longer with the new ball with fresh bowlers and that arguably worked – David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne were dismissed off consecutive deliveries on the second morning deep into Stuart Broad’s extended opening spell. But it did feel like England were a bit too cute, veering too far from the game’s essential objective – score as many runs as you can.
England arguably left more runs out there in their second innings, though. In pristine conditions for batting, Root was once again imperious but was stumped for the first time in his decade-long Test career in pursuit of even quicker runs. Harry Brook, also batting supremely, pulled a delivery from Nathan Lyon straight to mid-wicket. For the second time in the game, England left runs out there in the middle. The door was left ajar for Australia and they eventually snuck through to go 1-0 up.
England’s sloppiness
England were far from ruthless in the opening two Tests. Spilling chances behind the stumps and regularly over-stepping – too frequently, they let Australia off the hook. The first two Tests were played on particularly slow and flat pitches where chance creation with the ball was as hard as it gets in England. General sloppiness hurt England, they needed to create more chances than they should have and with the margins so fine that proved costly.
There were mitigating circumstances for Bairstow’s error-strewn series with the gloves but he didn’t have to keep wicket. This England side has creatively worked round other personnel issues but here, they didn’t and they paid for it.
The Cummins/Lyon stand
Despite all the above, Australia still needed 54 to win when the eighth wicket went down. Cummins and Lyon then launched a courageous counter-attack that quickly whittled down the number of runs required to something that was tangibly chaseable. England’s mistakes gave Australia a chance but it still needed some chasing. Cummins’ 44 not out is the highest ever score from a No. 9 in a successful run chase – it was a classic smash-and-grab overseas win.
A flat performance with the ball on day one at Lord’s
England won the toss and opted to field first in perfect seam-bowling conditions on the opening morning at Lord’s but failed to make the most of them. England actually did well to restrict Australia to 416 from where they were, but the damage was already done; you don’t win many Tests with the opposition 316-3. The pitch was slow but still, England weren’t 100 per cent on it and an opportunity to press ahead in the game passed them by.
The Lord’s collapse
England did brilliantly to claw their way back into the game. Joe Root burgled two middle-order wickets late on the first evening before England polished off the tail in good time. In prime batting conditions, England got off to a flier with all of Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett making starts. At 188-1, the Test was there for the taking especially as Nathan Lyon had just limped off the field with an injury that immediately looked serious.
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Partially due to the injury to Lyon and partially due to conditions – the pitch was slow and the ball wasn’t swinging – Australia resorted to a tactic of exclusively bowling the short ball. England, like they did against New Zealand earlier in the year when faced with a similar scenario, looked to take it on. But this was a very different challenge. The boundaries were bigger, the bowlers quicker and taller – it’s harder to ride the bounce of Cameron Green than it is against Neil Wagner. England lost 32-3 in a mini-session that evening, ceding control of the match. Harry Brook fell in similar circumstances the next day, holing out to the only fielder in front of square on the off side.
It’s legitimate to point out that Australia lost 126-8 as they shrunk into their shell against England’s short-ball barrage but there was surely some form of middle ground that exists between trying to blast the ball into the stands and going shotless
Starc and Cummins’ brilliance
Reflecting on the Lord’s Test, the final margin of victory probably flatters England. A totally ridiculous innings from Ben Stokes made the impossible briefly seem possible but in the end, only two England players passed 20 in a chase of 371. That was chiefly down to a devastating new-ball burst from Starc and Cummins that left England 45-4. Australia utilised the new ball better than England had at any point in the match: they out-bowled England.
Mark Wood’s fitness
England have been an altogether different entity since Mark Wood and Chris Woakes entered the fray. They both put in standout all-round performances in the win at Headingley and Wood in particular has been that point-of-difference bowler England have long craved. On the slow pitches seen in the first two Tests, Wood would surely have made a positive difference had he been ready for action earlier than he was.
Manchester rain
Cricket can be so cruel. England saved their best performance of the series for the Manchester Test and were close to perfect across the three and a bit days of action, bowling Australia out for 317 on a flat pitch, piling on 592 in rapid time and then prising out four early Australia second innings wickets before the rain poured. Had it not rained, it would be 2-2 going into the fifth Test. We’ve been deprived of the epic finale that this great series deserves.
