First Test Day one The first morning of the Ashes saw
Stuart Broad take the wickets of both openers,
David Warner and
Cameron Bancroft, who (along with
Steve Smith) were returning to the Test format for the first time since their
suspension for a ball-tampering incident in 2018. Warner was the first gone, leg before wicket in the fourth over, while Bancroft was caught behind just four overs later. Despite the early breakthrough, all was not tidy for England as
James Anderson, recovering from an injury, bowled only four overs in the session, and while he came back onto the field, it was reported at the lunch interval that he was suffering from tightness in his right calf, and he left the field for a scan in the afternoon.
Usman Khawaja was given out after drinks thanks to a
review, caught by
Bairstow off a thin edge. Despite this setback, Steve Smith and
Travis Head managed to hold on until lunch, leaving Australia 83/3 at the break. The first hour after lunch saw the fall of four wickets, due to good efforts by Broad and Woakes, with Head the first to go, leg before wicket to Woakes after a
not out decision was referred to the third umpire, the fourth-wicket partnership having stood for 64 runs.
Matthew Wade was the next man in, but he was soon dismissed in similar fashion.
Tim Paine was caught at deep square leg after a "horror shot", and
James Pattinson fell two balls later for a
duck, leaving Australia 112/7 at the end of the 40th over.
Pat Cummins fell shortly thereafter with the total at 122, but Australia scampered through to tea at 154/8, Smith unbeaten on 66. This left England's openers two overs to navigate before the close of play, which they batted out to a score of 10 without loss. After lunch, both English batsmen piled on the runs on a pitch that was becoming more batsman-friendly. During the break, there was good news for England, as it was confirmed that Anderson, injured on the first day, would be able to bat, and had bowled in the nets during the interval. Broad and Woakes built a 65-run partnership, surviving until drinks, after which Broad was caught on a
short delivery from Cummins. Anderson came in to bat, but made just three runs, England all out for 374 (a lead of 90), leading to an early tea interval. Head fell just before lunch, having put up a half-century of his own in the 130-run fourth-wicket stand. England's bowling attack, lacking Anderson, who was out of it for the remainder of the match, did not pick up another wicket by the interval and Australia were in a strong position at 231/4, having extended their lead to 141 runs, and Smith two runs short of a second century in the match. Root then stood with Roy until drinks, but the partnership was ended at 41 runs after the latter was bowled playing a rash shot at a delivery from Lyon. Denly was in and out before lunch, the review not saving him this time, as Lyon struck again and had him caught at short leg. Buttler came in and survived an lbw review by Australia, but Root was dismissed by Lyon 10 minutes before lunch, England 85/4 at the break, after a session that was deemed to be "Australia's morning", Chris Woakes managed to slow Australia's progress until after drinks, striking boundaries and surviving a review for lbw, but Ali was then dismissed for Lyon's fifth wicket of the innings, falling to the Australian spinner for the ninth time in 11 innings. Broad was then out for a golden duck, England now 136/9, giving Lyon the chance to win the match with a hat-trick ball against Anderson; the English batsman survived the delivery, Any further participation in the series was also uncertain, with
Jofra Archer expected to replace him. England captain Joe Root nevertheless refused to blame anybody, saying that Anderson had passed all fitness tests before the match and that his selection had been unanimous. England's pace bowling options remained limited for further Tests, however, as potential replacement
Olly Stone was also injured in training. Despite troubling performances by other members of the side, including Buttler, Bairstow and Ali, Root did not wish to make any "shotgun decisions" and noted that, despite the team's inconsistency, England were far from being out of contention. England's prioritisation of
white-ball cricket was also put in a bad light after disappointing performances by players more accustomed to
One Day Internationals than Tests. Australian skipper Tim Paine noted that Anderson's exclusion had deprived England of one of the world's best bowlers, and that his side's confidence grew as a result. In the meantime, Australia played a three-day tour match against
Worcestershire, which, as a result of rain washing out most of the final day,
was drawn. Criticism was directed at umpires
Aleem Dar and
Joel Wilson, who had 10 of their decisions overturned over the course of the game, with former Australia captain
Ricky Ponting suggesting that the ICC's requirements of neutral umpires should be waived in the future, to reduce umpire workload and fatigue. Root, however, noted that players and umpires, both under pressure to perform, make mistakes, and that over-criticism and blame games should be avoided. The idea, which had already surfaced before, had also been opposed by the umpires themselves, who "[were] happier to accept criticism of their decision-making on a basis of skills, conditions, eyesight – just about anything so long as they are not regarded as biased towards one side".
Second Test Day one The first day of the second Test was washed out because of intermittent rain that prevented the ground from drying and the toss from taking place, leaving four extended days, weather permitting, to complete the match.
Day two Play began on the second day with England's openers sent in to bat in the morning session. Australia struck in the second over, Jason Roy out for a three-ball duck, caught by Paine off Hazlewood's bowling, the latter returning to the Test side after not being selected for Edgbaston. Joe Root then came in, but he was trapped leg before wicket by Hazlewood, leaving England at 26/2. Denly, the new man in, was hit by a bouncer in the next over, leading to an early drinks break. Nevertheless, he and Rory Burns survived until lunch, contributing a 50-run partnership to rebuild England's innings after the early wickets. This left the home team at 76/2 at the interval. The second session saw Denly caught behind by Tim Paine off Hazlewood, before Burns reached a half-century. His wicket fell shortly thereafter, however, thanks to a splendid catch by Bancroft at short leg, off the bowling of Cummins. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes were the next to fall, leaving England on 138/6 with less than an hour to go until tea. Australia reviewed for lbw against Bairstow a few overs before the interval, but this turned out to be a poor decision and the England batsmen did not lose any more wickets before the break, by which point they were 201/6. The weather remained inclement throughout the afternoon and the evening, and no further play was possible. The sixth-wicket partnership was broken after the interval as Paine edged the ball to Buttler off Archer. Smith was then hit on the arm by a short delivery from Archer a few overs later, but was given the green light to continue after examination by team doctors. A review for lbw against Cummins was soon struck down as Archer continued to put pressure on the Australian batsmen, including hitting Smith directly in the neck with a bouncer; the batsman fell to the ground briefly, but had to retire hurt, though he was able to walk off the field unassisted after a chat with the team doctor. The new man in, Siddle, lasted only a few overs, failing to reach a double-digit score, at which point Smith was brought back in; however, he was soon out leg before wicket to Woakes after an unsuccessful review. Australia's tailenders were out before tea, giving them a total of 250, trailing by eight runs with England's second innings to begin after the interval. who became the first concussion substitute in Test cricket after the ICC's decision to allow such replacements. Smith was later ruled out of the third Test at
Headingley. England's fifth wicket stood for the remainder of the morning session as
Ben Stokes reached a half-century, unbeaten on 51 at the interval with England at 157/4. Buttler was caught by Hazlewood off Cummins soon after lunch, but Bairstow played on with Stokes until the latter reached a century, at which point England declared on 258/5. This left Australia a target of 267 runs to win off a scheduled 50 overs, albeit leaving England with an outside chance to bowl their opposition out. The evening session was unaffected by rain, and Australia's third wicket stood for 111 runs before Warner, having previously successfully overturned an on-field decision, was caught off Archer. After this, Australia, on 136/3, collapsed to 179 all out by the close. Archer claimed five more victims to end the innings with figures of 6/45 in his second Test match. The England debacle continued after lunch, with Woakes out on the first ball of the afternoon session, the final three wickets then falling in quick succession as the home side was all out for 67, with Hazlewood picking up a five-wicket haul for the visitors.
Day four The fourth day of the Test started poorly for England. The first 25 balls were dots and the new ball was due to be available to Australia in another four overs. Root eventually opened the scoring for the day before being caught behind by Warner off Lyon's bowling, having made 77 runs. This wicket took Lyon to 356 in Test cricket and saw him go third in Australia's list of all-time highest Test wicket-takers. Bairstow joined Stokes at the crease with the score 159/4 and the partnership made 79 runs before lunch to bring England to 238/4, needing 121 more runs to win. At this stage, it seemed as though if Stokes and Bairstow could continue batting as sensibly as they had, then victory was a real possibility. However, soon after play resumed, England suffered a string of quick wickets. Bairstow was the first to fall, caught behind by Labuschagne off Hazlewood for 36. Buttler was in next but made only 1 before confusion between him and Stokes left him well short of his crease when Head hit the stumps to run him out. Similarly, Woakes came in next and added just one run before driving a ball from Hazlewood straight to Wade. At this point, England were 261/7 and needed 98 more runs to win. Archer came to the crease and added 15 to the score with a few boundaries before picking out Head at deep midwicket off Lyon. Broad survived just one ball before being given out lbw, which was confirmed after his review, and England had just one wicket remaining with 73 more runs needed for victory. Since the lunch interval, they had lost 5 wickets for just 48 runs. Jack Leach was the final man in for England with the score at 286/9 and their game plan soon became apparent. Stokes took the brunt of the Australian attack, never allowing Leach to face more than the final couple of balls of any over so that Stokes could
keep the strike. Stokes started well, hitting Lyon for a six in the first over of the partnership. He then made a few runs from the next over from Pattinson before hitting Lyon for two sixes in the next over, the second a reverse sweep, finishing the over with England at 310/9. Two overs later, he hit Cummins for another six before pulling Hazlewood for four to reach his century. He then hit two more sixes from Hazlewood's bowling – making 16 from just three balls – and moved England to 338/9. Stokes was then dropped by Harris, although it was a tough catch to take, before hitting consecutive fours off Cummins to move the score to 350/9. Leach then had to face the final two balls of Cummins' over and an lbw shout off the final ball was reviewed by Australia after umpire
Chris Gaffaney gave it not out; the ball was found to have pitched outside leg, confirming umpire Gaffaney's decision, and the review was lost. Lyon continued the attack and was smacked down the ground for six more by Stokes. England needed just two runs to win and one run to tie. Two balls later, Lyon fumbled what would have been a certain run-out with Leach well out of his crease before hitting Stokes on the pad to huge cries for lbw. Umpire
Joel Wilson gave it not out and Australia had no reviews left; had the decision been reviewed, it would have been given out. This was the final ball of the over so Stokes was unable to rotate the strike and Leach potentially had to face a full over from Cummins. He scored a single from the third ball of the over to ensure England could not lose the game and gave Stokes the strike with England needing just one run to win. Stokes promptly cut the next ball from Cummins through the covers for four to give England the most unlikely victory imaginable, completing their highest ever run chase in Tests.
Fourth Test Fifth Test ==Statistics==