Chasing 281 in the ongoing Ashes Test match against England, Australia were 107-3 at stumps on day four in Edgbaston. Here is the list of top five successful chases in Ashes history.
You can bet on the 2023 Ashes with our Match Centre partners, bet365.
To win today, Australia will have to pull off – in the history of successful chases in the Ashes – their highest since 1948, their third-highest of all time, and the ninth-highest between the two sides.
England made 124-2 in 2015 to beat Australia in Birmingham: it remains the highest successful chase at the venue, though Australia did make 279 when they lost by two runs in the iconic Test match of 2005.
Record chases in Ashes history: Top five highest successful chases in ENG vs AUS Tests | Ashes 2023
4 (joint). Australia 315-6, Adelaide 1901/02: The series was level 1-1, and Australia became 50-2 chasing 315 on the sixth day of this timeless Test match. England were handicapped by the absence of SF Barnes, who was ruled out of the series after injuring his knee on the second afternoon. Clem Hill followed 99 and 98 in the previous two innings with 97 before captain Joe Darling (69) and Hugh Trumble (62 not out) saw Australia home.
4 (joint). England 315-4, Headingley 2001: Leading in the absence of the injured Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist set England (down 0-3 in the series already) 315 – bigger than anything they had never chased in the Ashes since 1928/29. At 33-2 it seemed justified… until Mark Butcher (173 not out) chose to play the innings of a lifetime.
3. England 332-7, Melbourne 1928/29: Perhaps the most stupendous chase on this list, for a target that enormous on a wet Melbourne pitch was a near-impossibility. Yet, in an encore of Oval 1926, England’s openers – Jack Hobbs (49) and Herbert Sutcliffe (135) – added 105, while three others crossed 30. England did slip from 318-3 to 328-7, but by then the damage had been done.
2. England 362-9, Headingley 2019: Ben Stokes’ finest hour. Shot out for 67 in the first innings, England became 15-2, then 159-4, then 286-9 in pursuit of 362 before Stokes bludgeoned a world-class attack into submission, with the bespectacled No.11 Jack Leach for company. It remains the second-highest last-wicket partnership in a successful chase in Test cricket.
1. Australia 404-3, Headingley 1948: It is only fair that Don Bradman features in the top entry. England batted for two overs on the final day, which was followed by an innings break, and “the pitch took spin and the ball lifted and turned sharply”. Yet, Bradman (173 not out) went for it, adding 301 for the second wicket with Arthur Morris (182). It turned out to be an easy win.
