England and Australia’s tactics under the scanner: Six takeaways from an Edgbaston epic | Ashes 2023

Australia go anti-Bazball until the very last moment

It was tempting to portray this game as the renegades against the traditionalists, Ben Stokes’ brave boys against Pat Cummins’ hardened men, set in their ways and playing Test cricket as it has been and should be. And yet, there was creativity and courage in Austraia’s game plan, not ignoring Bazball or aping it, but aiming to counteract it. They put men on the fence from the very first ball. They dug in with the bat, extraordinarily so on the last day, even when Joe Root, a part-timer, and Ben Stokes, on one leg, were in tandem. Australia backed England to make enough mistakes for them to win by simply not losing.

Until, right at the end, came the suckerpunch. Did Stokes blink by not taking the new ball? Certainly, Cummins’ eyes were clear, Root smashed for two sixes in three balls before Stuart Broad was pumped too. The second new ball was taken, and the runs dried up. Australia edged home. But the battle of the philosophies will live on. BG

England will frustrate at times, but it will never not be fun

If you can’t love England at their ‘Joe Root dancing past Nathan Lyon’, you don’t deserve them at their ‘Zak Crawley cover driving the first ball of the Ashes for four’. In hindsight, and even at the time, some of what England did and chose to do puzzled. The day one declaration will be debated for some time, while their third-innings approach, pushing the game ahead but not quite out of reach, was puzzling at times.

But hey, we’re talking about it! It might be heart-wrenching, gut-punching and head-scratching all at once, but it’s also fun, even it doesn’t feel like it at the time. And for England fans for whom winning is all that matters, don’t despair. Remember where they were. At the start of last summer, the thought of England going toe to toe with Australia felt absurd. It’s precisely because they allow themselves to make mistakes, to do stupid things without admonishment, that they are as good as they are now. They might not have won this one, but playing this way gives them the best possible chance of winning the next. BG

Usman Khawaja is an all-conditions maestro

If the century in the first innings wasn’t enough, the vigil which lasted over three hours in the second sealed it. Usman Khawaja has completed his record as an overseas master, having come into the series with only one blot on his geographical record. The verbals he received, and exchanged, with Ollie Robinson were a distraction from just how good he was in this Test. Without him, Australia wouldn’t have even got close.

[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]

All the talk was of England’s ‘special plans’ for Steve Smith coming into the series. They were also about how they could combat Marnus Labuschagne’s volume of runs. Between them, Smith and Labuschagne scored 35 runs in the match. Khawaja scored 201. While Australia are not short of batters who can score huge quantities of runs at home, Khawaja is integral for their ability to do so overseas. KW

The Ben Foakes debate isn’t going away

England’s work would’ve been made easier in this Test if they had taken all the chances they’d created. Although not the sole perpetrator, a large portion of the responsibility for that falls on Jonny Bairstow. The two dropped catches and a missed stumping in the first innings unnecessarily elongated Australia’s innings, and his miss off Khawaja in the second could’ve prevented a match-winning vigil.

Perhaps it was unfair to ask for a flawless performance from Bairstow after so long on the sidelines. Taking aside his well-documented preference for taking the gloves, he did so in this Test in the shadow of a maestro. England are so used to relying on Ben Foakes’s astonishing feats behind the stumps that anything less looks poor. Alex Carey’s flawless performance behind the sticks only made it worse. Whether England relent to find a place for Foakes in their XI by doing something funky or not, the debate will roll on with every missed opportunity. KW

England might need a back-up, back-up spinner

There was something heroic and tragic about watching Moeen Ali bowl on day five. A couple of weeks ago, he was retired from Test cricket. Now here he was, having ripped his finger open on day two, and re-ripping it every time he ripped down. The bad balls could be forgiven, especially when he prised the game open, taking Travis Head’s outside-edge.

There is time between the first and second Tests, and despite the injury, there was enough to show why England went back to Moeen. If the callous hardens, he’s the man for the job. If not, England face a decision to make over how to replace him in the XI. Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed and Liam Dawson are the three candidates, all with their positives and drawbacks. However, Joe Root’s miserly – until Pat Cummins got hold of him – spell might convince England to go in with four front-line quicks, a move which would also allow them to bring in Mark Wood without leaving out one of Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson or James Anderson. BG

Marnus Labuschagne has work to do to justify ‘world’s best’ tag

In both innings, Marnus Labuschagne’s dismissals came at a difficult point for Australia. The first put Stuart Broad on a hat-trick after he saw off David Warner for the 1000th time, the second late in the day when all Australia needed to do was keep wickets in hand. Both times, Broad was the one who found his outside edge. The second dismissal was more worrying from an Australian point of view. He was dragged further and further outside his off stump before one inevitably scratched his bat.

Coming into the series with that World No.1 ranking on his back, that stat of his one overseas century will loom ever larger if it fails to change soon. KW