When Pat Cummins Defied the Odds: Leading Australia to Victory

(Pat Cummins celebrates after hitting the winning runs against England in the first Ashes Test 2023)

England vs Australia in Ashes has always been a series that brings out the best in the players of both teams because of the ultimate rivalry and the way it is played aggressively by the players out there. There have been several Ashes heroes like Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and many more. But now there has been a new addition to the list because of his ultimate performance in the last 4 Ashes series and even managed to retain the Ashes urn in England as the captain of the team. The 2023 Ashes proved to be an amazing one for Pat Cummins because of the way he contributed to the team’s success along with playing a bigger role in the first test of the series.

England vs Australia, 1st Test at Birmingham

Before the Ashes 2023, Australia was entering the series as the winners of the World Test Championship Finals while defeating India by 209 runs and hence was high on confidence, while on the other side, the England team was coming up with a new approach to the test cricket named “Bazball” where they played the Test Cricket with the motive of hitting every ball just like the T20 format and had got the results defeating Pakistan at their home along with New Zealand and India in England. The first Test of the much-awaited Ashes series was scheduled at the Edgbaston in Birmingham.

With the toss going in England’s favour, they got to bat first on the flat pitch of Edgbaston and this is how they have played cricket in the last few matches in the Test Cricket format. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started the innings for the team and it was Crawley who hit the first ball of the match for four to show his intentions well. At 22-1, England lost the wicket of Ben Duckett and then at 92, they lost their second wicket as Ollie Pope departed. The team was scoring runs at a quick pace but was also losing the wickets at regular intervals.

(Zak Crawley got a boundary on the first ball of the 2023 Ashes series)

After the wickets of Zak Crawley and Harry Brook, England got a partnership between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow who were looking in great touch and hence posted 121 runs on the board. In between this, Joe Root completed his first Ashes century since the 2015 series while Jonny Bairstow also got a fifty-plus score. In the end, the first innings of the England team ended with 393 runs for a loss of 8 wickets as just on the first day of the match, the England team declared the innings and at the end, this decision came back haunting them while deciding the result of the match.

Coming to the Australian bowlers, it was Nathan Lyon who was their best bowler and picked up 4 wickets but his economy rate of 5.13 in the 29 overs bowled was a concern as the England team was playing aggressively in the match. However, when the Australian team started off their batting, they did it with the conventional style of blocking the good balls and attacking the bad balls. Usman Khawaja was the hero for the team as he piled up his first century on England soil while Travis Head, Alex Carey and Pat Cummins supported him well in the batting lineup. But the poor show from Davis Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith was a major blow for the Australian team in the match.

(Usman Khawaja scored 141 runs from 321 balls in the first Ashes test)

The first innings for the Australian team finally ended up with 386 runs on the board after they got all-out in the match and it was the England team that was leading by 7 runs in the match. With the pitch being flat and batting-friendly, England needed a big score in the next innings to put the pressure back on the Australian team. This time, the openers of the England team along with their middle order failed to put pressure on the Australian bowlers as they were 77 for 3 in 17 overs and now needed someone to step up.

In between, Joe Root and Harry Brook started playing well for the team and it was their partnership that got England back into the game. But a reckless shot from Joe Root got him out stumped by Alex Carey and hence the Australian team roared again. The complete middle order of the England team succumbed under pressure and they were able to post only 273 runs on the board with the complete team getting all-out and for the Australian team, chasing a target of 281 runs on a flat pitch was an ideal situation to get 1-0 up in the Ashes series early on.

(Moeen Ali disappointed after getting out in the second innings of the first Ashes test)

Coming to chase such a total in the fourth innings, it was going to be a nervy start for the Australian team as the new ball was always going to be a big threat for the team. However, the openers of the team, David Warner and Usman Khawaja made sure that the team was up for the challenge as hence they started the innings accordingly. But with 61 runs on the board, the Australian team lost the wicket of David Warner which was a major blow for the team in the match. Just after that, it was the turn of Marnus Labuschagne to shine but just like the first innings of the match, he failed to make an impact in the match.

After the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne, the match was now wide open for the England team and the two quick wickets did a good job for the team. With the arrival of Steve Smith at the crease, the England bowlers knew that this wicket would be an important one and hence they managed to get Smith out for just 6 runs and the day ended with 107/3 and the Australia team needed 174 runs more in the last day of the match to take the lead in the first match. Scott Boland and Usman Khawaja were the current batters on the crease.

(Steve Smith walking back to the pavilions after being dismissed for just 6 runs in the match)

The start of the 5th day was paused a bit because of the rain and hence the first session of the last day was washed out with the players returning to play in the second session of the day. The Australian team started well but soon lost the night watchman with the score being 121-4 and still needing 160 runs to get the team home. Soon, Travis Head also got out and now the team was in a bothering position with half of the side already back in the dressing room. However, a partnership between Cameron Green and Usman Khawaja got them back on track.

But two quick wickets from the England team made things open again for both the teams out there as Ollie Robinson got the wicket of Cameron Green while Ben Stokes got rid of Usman Khawaja. Both these wickets spiced up things in the match and soon Alex Carey also got out when he was caught and bowled by Joe Root to get the Australian team in a bothersome position of 227 runs with the loss of 8 wickets and the team still needed 54 runs to win the first Ashes test while the England team needed just 2 more wickets to seal the deal.

(Joe Root took an amazing catch to dismiss Alex Carey in the first test)

Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon seal the deal for the Australian team

When Usman Khawaja was dismissed for 65 runs, it was the Australian captain who stepped on the field to get a partnership with Alex Carey. With 72 runs still needed and with 3 wickets in hand, this was always going to be a tight game and everyone was expecting the England team to take the win here because they gave a better performance in the match with the help of the bowlers. Just like this, with the dismissal of Alex Carey, it was Nathan Lyon who joined the captain Pat Cummins and the team was still 54 runs behind.

With the wicket of Alex Carey, it looked like the England team was going to win now and the last two wickets were only a matter of time. But in the over of Joe Root, Pat Cummins smashed two sixes over the long-off to bring down the situation at 37 runs required to take the victory. In the next over, Ben Stokes got an attacking field and brought back Stuart Broad into the attack. Nathan Lyon played a pull shot and at square leg, it was Ben Stokes who dropped the catch and gave him another life in the innings to get the team home.

(Ben Stokes dropped a tough catch off Nathan Lyon in the match)

With every over going by, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon were able to extract the runs easily through the singles and doubles. Moreover, they also ensured that the bad balls were hit for boundaries which brought down the target to just 12 runs now and the England team still needed 2 quick wickets to complete the match in their favour. The 90th over was given to Stuart Broad and with Nathan Lyon on strike for the fourth ball of the over, it was going to be a nervy moment but Lyon smacked the ball over mid-on to bring down the situation at just 5 runs required now.

Now coming to the 93rd over of the match, the Australian team was just 3 runs behind, and Ollie Robinson was given the duty to get the England team a wicket. The first two balls were defended well by Pat Cummins and then the bowler decided to bowl a short ball at the off-stump length. Cummins got a big edge which went past the deep third man and both the players were planning for a single but a misfield allowed the ball to reach the boundary line and the Australian team pulled off a great victory by two wickets.

(Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon celebrate after winning the match for the Australian team)

In the last innings of the match, Pat Cummins was the second-highest run scorer for the team as he got 44 runs from 73 balls played while on the other hand, Nathan Lyon got 16 runs from the 28 balls faced and hence both of them were involved in a partnership of 55 runs partnership which eventually won the game for the Australian team and hence they managed to come up 1-0 in the first match of the 2023 Ashes series. Usman Khawaja was the Man of the match for scoring a total of 206 runs in the match for the Australian team.

For the England team, the decision to declare in the first innings of the match even after having two wickets available proved to be a decisive factor in the match. If they had got 15-20 runs more in their band in the first innings, the Australian team might have got stuck in the first innings itself and hence might have been ruled out there only. In the post-match presentation, the Australian team captain Pat Cummins came and said that:

England vs Australia, 1st Test at Birmingham
England	Australia
393/8d (78 overs)	386 (116.1 overs)
Joe Root 118* (152)	Usman Khawaja 141 (321)
Nathan Lyon 4/149 (29 overs)	Ollie Robinson 3/55 (22.1 overs)
273 (66.2 overs)	282/8 (92.3 overs)
Harry Brook 46 (52)	Usman Khawaja 65 (197)
Pat Cummins 4/63 (18.2 overs)	Stuart Broad 3/64 (21 overs)
Australia won by 2 wickets

“Huge all week, been outnumbered but stuck in there. Been great. [Chances at when I walked out to bat?] Pretty good, the wicket didn't have too many demons in it. I thought it was well within our grasp. {Lyon four off Broad] I looked at him, he walked past and said 'Nice shot Garry!' Think he was happy. [Australia approach] Both teams spoke about their styles and that's the beauty of the series. We'll both play to our strengths. Don't know which is better but makes for good entertainment. Incredible composure, played his own method didn't get caught up.”

“Been class the last couple of years, to have someone like that in the middle for others to play around. Really happy for him. He had a good feel for the wicket, everyone else tried to play their little role. He's huge, in both innings. He's played 120 Tests, he takes key wickets, he's a superstar. He's calm, he goes about his work. [Make up for Headingley 2019?] Don't know what you're talking about, mate!”

Just like Pat Cummins, Ben Stokes also shared his views on the outcome of the match and was even asked about the same thing regarding the declaration in an early phase. However, to this, Ben Stokes handled the question well and said:

“Very proud to take it to the end of day five like that, to have all the emotions, it was so up and down. It's another game we'll never forget we've been a part of. That's what we want to do, be part of great moments, and get people on the edge of their seats. [Tough because you made running?] A loss is a loss. We've said how we were going to operate.”

“Losing hurts and winning is a great feeling. We're going to keep making moves if we feel the time is right and if we end up on the wrong side of results like this, there won't be much to complain about. . That was an opportunity to pounce on Australia, no batsman likes to go out for 20 minutes at the end of the day, and I sensed an opportunity to take two wickets. [Moeen injury] Would have been great to have Moeen, but I think Rooty did a fantastic job.”