England vs Australia Ashes 2023 1st Test Highlights: Australia and England produced an epic at Edgbaston, an edge-of-the-seat thriller to kick off the 2023 edition of five-match Ashes Test series. Australia defeated hosts England by two wickets to win a rain-hit first Ashes Test. The visitors were reeling at 227/8, still 54 runs away from chasing down the target of 281. It was the ninth wicket pair of Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon who finished the job this time around for Australia. England faced incredible resistance from tailenders Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, who staged an inspiring fightback by stitching an unbroken stand of 55 to take Ashes holder Australia over the line.
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Pat Cummins hit the winning boundary to finish on an unbeaten after opener Usman Khawaja's painstaking 65 in 2nd innings to follow his brilliant first-innings knock of 141 and half-centuries from Alex Carey and Travis Head. Nathan Lyon was unbeaten on 16. Australia are now 1-0 up in the five-match series as they bid for a first Ashes win on English soil in 22 years.
Earlier, Ben Stokes' made a 'brave' decision to declare England's first innings at 393/8 on Day 1 of England vs Australia Ashes 2023 1st Test, at a time when Joe Root was batting unbeaten at 121*. At stumps on Day 1, Australia were 14/0, trailing England by 379 runs.
Australia were reeling at 67/3 after Stuart Broad dismissed David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in back-to-back deliveries before captain Stokes bagged the prize wicket of Steve Smith. Opener Usman Khawaja (126 not out) and wicketkeeper Alex Carey (52) then staged a fightback with their unbeaten 91-run stand to help Australia recover, reaching 311-5 at stumps on Day 2, still trailing England by 82 runs.
The match was evenly poised with all results possible on the fifth and final day. England bowled out Australia for 273 in 2nd innings. Chasing 281-run total for the win, Australia were 107/3 at Stumps on Day 4 and required 174 more runs for the win on Day 5, which the visitors eventually did to seal a memorable win at Edgbaston.