First Test Day one Australia entered the first Test with the decision whether to select Scott Boland ahead of either Josh Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc, after his performance against
India in the World Test Championship final in the previous week. Ultimately Boland was selected ahead of the left-arm fast bowler Starc. England won the first toss of the series and elected to bat first. Australia captain Pat Cummins opened the bowling with Zak Crawley striking the very first ball of the innings for
four. Ben Duckett was caught behind for 12 off Hazlewood in the fourth over. Ollie Pope then fell for 31, lbw to Nathan Lyon at the end of the 18th over. Crawley reached his half-century two balls later. However, with two balls remaining before the lunch break, Crawley was caught behind on review for 61 off Boland, meaning England entered the lunch break on the first morning 124/3. England went on to claim the remaining wickets before the lunch break, leaving Australia 386 all out and a first innings deficit of 7 runs. After lunch, rain stopped play but once again the delay was short lived and soon after Tongue picked up a second wicket, this time bowling Warner for 66. Steve Smith was given out caught behind off Stuart Broad but the decision was overturned on review with replays showing a clear gap between bat and ball. Marnus Labuschagne was also given out off Broad, this time for lbw, but again the decision was overturned on review with ball tracking suggesting the ball would go on to miss the stumps. Smith then reached 9,000 Test runs, the second-fastest to reach that milestone after
Kumar Sangakkara. Australia reached tea on 190/2. Australia then reverted to short-pitched bowling to great reward. Firstly, Pope, also nursing an injury, fell to Green for 42. Three balls later, Root gloved a catch to Carey off Green but was given as a no-ball. Soon after, Duckett fell two runs short of a second century in the series, top edging a catch to Warner off Hazlewood. Root then fell to a highly disputed catch from Steve Smith, with the decision ultimately being given out by third umpire Marais Erasmus. No further wickets fell before close, with England on 278/4, 138 runs behind. England reached the close at 7:10 p.m. on 114/4, still requiring 257 runs to win.
Laws of Cricket 20.1.2 and 20.2 place the onus on the umpire to decide when the ball is considered dead by both sides or finally settled in the hands of the wicketkeeper. After this moment, Stokes upped his counter-attack and struck three consecutive sixes to bring up a 13th Test and fourth Ashes hundred, before also bringing up a 50-run stand with Broad on the stroke of lunch. This left England on 243/6, still requiring 128 runs to win. After lunch, Broad and Stokes continued to build their partnership and the latter resumed his explosive innings, bringing up his 150 in the 69th over before eventually falling to Hazlewood for 155. Stokes' innings contained nine fours and nine sixes. England still required 70 runs at the point of Stokes' departure. Robinson (1) fell in the next over to Cummins and Broad (11) the over after to Hazlewood. England's last wicket partnership survived for seven overs and took them within 44 runs of their target before Starc bowled Tongue to secure a 43-run victory for Australia and to go 2–0 up in the series. Australia also made three changes, two enforced due to injuries to Nathan Lyon and Cameron Green in the previous Test. Spinner
Todd Murphy and all-rounder
Mitchell Marsh were their respective direct replacements, whilst Josh Hazlewood dropped out for the returning Scott Boland. Five overs after lunch, Wood got Smith out lbw for 41, the initial not out decision by umpire Menon being reviewed by England and overturned by
DRS. Labuschagne brought up a half-century in the 46th over but was out in the next over for 51, trapped lbw by Moeen Ali and like Smith before him, was given not out on-field but overturned by DRS on review. Australia reached tea on 187/4. England's extraordinary innings ended on 592 all out, a first innings lead of 275 runs. Scoring at 5.49 runs per over, it was the third fastest batting innings to reach 500 runs, behind two of England's innings against
Pakistan and
Ireland both occurring within the past eight months. It was also the first time since the fifth Test of the
1985 Ashes that England have reached 500 in a home Ashes series. Australia lost the first wicket of their second innings in the 11th over, Wood finding the edge of Khawaja's bat; after an unsuccessful review of the on-field 'out' decision, Khawaja departed for 18. Australia reached a slightly delayed tea on 39/1 from 12 overs, still 236 runs behind. Warner was first to fall after tea, bowled by Woakes for 28. Labuschagne and Smith built up a partnership of 43, before Wood took his 100th Test wicket by removing Smith caught behind for 17. Four overs later it was Wood again who took the next wicket, Duckett catching Head in the gully for 1. Marsh and Labuschagne saw Australia to a delayed close at 6:43 p.m. on 113/4, trailing by 162 runs but with the following day's play under threat of being severely affected by the weather. England's openers started positively, raising a fifty partnership after 10 overs, with Ben Duckett making a run-a-ball 41 before he gloved one behind off Mitchell Marsh. This wicket was the first of three to go down for just 11 runs with Zak Crawley (22) and Joe Root (5) being dismissed by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, respectively. Harry Brook and Moeen Ali put together a fifty partnership of their own to steer the innings to lunch with England on 131/3. After lunch, Brook brought up his fourth half-century of the series off just 44 balls. Moeen hit two sixes before missing one from Murphy to be bowled for 34. England captain Ben Stokes came and went, falling for just 3 off 16, again bowled, this time by Mitchell Starc. Jonny Bairstow was also bowled, scoring 4 off 14, by Hazlewood. Three balls later, Brook finally fell for 85, edging to Steve Smith off Starc. Chris Woakes and Mark Wood saw England to tea, bringing up England's 250 with the last ball before, on 250/7. Almost immediately after resumption, Woakes was given out lbw but reviewed the decision, getting it overturned after DRS found an edge off the bat. Two balls later, Woakes was dropped at gully by Marsh, one of five dropped catches throughout the day by Australia. The following over, spinner Murphy dismissed Wood for 28. Another over later and Stuart Broad also returned to the pavilion, caught for 7 at cover by Travis Head off Starc. After hitting a six and then a four, Woakes became the last batter to fall, caught at fine leg for Starc's fourth wicket, making a run-a-ball 36. England's innings came to an end all out for 283. In Australia's reply, Broad had an appeal for lbw against Usman Khawaja turned down off the very first ball. As usual, Broad and James Anderson opened the bowling for England, but it was Woakes who made the breakthrough in the 17th over, David Warner caught in the cordon by Crawley for 24. Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne saw Australia through to stumps, unbeaten on 26 and 2, respectively, at 61/1.
Day two Australia began the morning at a slow rate, scoring just 21 runs in the first hour of the session up to the drinks break. Four overs after drinks, Wood had Labuschagne caught brilliantly at first slip by Root for 9 off 82 balls, a strike rate of 10.97. It was the only wicket to fall in the morning as Australia reached lunch on 115/2. The afternoon session heralded much more action as Australia lost five further wickets before tea. Five balls after lunch, Broad trapped Khawaja lbw three runs short of a half-century. Two overs later and new batter Head had to depart for 4, caught behind again off Broad. In the 61st over, Anderson took his first wicket of the match with Mitchell Marsh chopping onto his stumps for 16. Wicketkeeper Carey was dismissed for 10 by Root, one ball after slog-sweeping him for six, with Stokes taking his 100th Test catch. Starc was the final wicket to fall in the eventful session before tea, attempting a pull shot off Wood but top-edging to Duckett for 7. Australia were 186/7 at tea, still 97 runs behind. Three overs into the evening session, England thought they had Smith run out. Attempting to run two, substitute fielder George Ealham got his throw into Bairstow before Smith could make his ground. However, closer inspection by the third umpire revealed that Bairstow had dislodged one side of the bails from its groove before the ball had settled in his gloves, meaning that Smith had actually made his ground before Bairstow completed the full dislodgement of the bail. Australia survived another close call later as Cummins was given out lbw off Broad but reviewed successfully after DRS had the ball sliding down the leg side and missing the stumps. Cummins and Smith put together a crucial fifty partnership for Australia before Smith top-edged to Bairstow off Woakes for 71 on the stroke of the drinks break. Number 10 batter Murphy came in and counter-punched, hitting two fours and three sixes on his way to making 34 off 39 before Woakes trapped him lbw. Cummins was the last to fall in the last over of the day, caught on the boundary by Stokes for 36. Australia's innings ended on 295, a first innings lead of 12.
Day three Crawley again struck the first ball of the innings for four, with Duckett also hitting the final two balls of the first over for four, putting England into the lead off the first six deliveries of the innings. The two openers put on a fifty partnership in just 8.4 overs. Starc prized the wicket of Duckett for 42 to break the opening partnership in the 17th over. Originally given not out by the on-field umpire, Australia reviewed and DRS revealed an edge. Four overs later, Crawley brought up another half-century off 61 balls. England's aggressive batting took them to lunch on 130/1 off 25 overs, a run rate of 5.20. Crawley nicked to slip off Cummins for 73 in the second over after lunch, after which Stokes and Root continued to build a lead for England, bringing up their fifty partnership on the stroke of the drinks break. After drinks, Root brought up his half-century, followed by Stokes holing out to mid-on for 42 off spinner Murphy. New batter Brook fell an over later, after hitting a six, caught behind for 7 off Hazlewood. Root and Bairstow saw England reach tea on 265/4, a lead of 253. Three overs into the evening session, Root and Bairstow brought up yet another fifty partnership in England's batting innings. Later Bairstow brought up his own half-century with a cover drive off Hazlewood. The two batters took England's lead beyond 300, before the partnership was finally broken with a delivery from Murphy that kept very low and caught Root's inside edge, bowling him for 91. Starc then got Bairstow caught behind for 78, and two overs later Woakes followed suit by driving straight to mid-off for 1 off Starc once more. England lost their eighth and ninth wickets in the space of three deliveries, Ali (29) attempting to ramp Starc but only holing out to Hazlewood at fine leg, and Wood (9) slogging straight to Marsh at deep midwicket off Murphy. Anderson and Broad saw England to stumps on 389/9, leading by 377 runs. In a post-match interview almost immediately after the close of play, England bowler Stuart Broad announced his retirement from all cricket upon the completion of this Test.
Day four With Broad having announced his retirement from cricket after this match, Australia welcomed Broad to the field with a guard of honour. Resuming on 389/9, England only lasted 11 balls with the addition of six runs, those runs being a six off the bat of Broad with his last ever delivery faced in Test cricket. Anderson the batter out for 8, trapped lbw by Murphy. England finished on 395, setting Australia a target of 384 runs to win the Test. Australia's openers eased into their chase, bringing up their fifty partnership inside 14 overs. Australia reached lunch without losing a wicket on 75/0, still requiring 309 runs. After lunch, Khawaja and Warner brought up their first century partnership of the series in the 33rd over, and Khawaja brought up his own half-century the very next ball with an edge between slip and gully. Two overs later Warner reached his half-century with a pull to square leg for two. In the 37th over, a Wood bouncer hit Khawaja on the helmet and the ball was replaced with what was described as "an old, reverse (swinging) ball to a brand-new ball" from the box of replacement balls for the match. During the drinks break at 2:40 p.m., rain stopped play and set in for the rest of day, with play being abandoned at 4:47 p.m. with Australia on 135/0, 249 away from their target of 384.
Day five Play on the final day of the series was delayed by 10 minutes due to a brief rain shower. Woakes made an early breakthrough for England, having Warner caught behind for 60 in fourth over of the morning. Just two overs later and Woakes prised the second opener out, trapping Khawaja lbw for 72. Labuschagne edged Wood to second slip for 13 at the end of the 49th over, before Smith and Head rebuilt the Australian innings, bringing up 200 and a fifty partnership. On the stroke of a delayed lunch break, England thought they had Smith out. Appealing for a catch by Stokes off Ali and given not out, England reviewed the decision which revealed the ball brushed Smith's gloves on the way through, but that Stokes had dropped the ball before completing the catch. The on-field decision was therefore upheld. Australia took lunch at 1:30 p.m. on 238/3, requiring 146 runs to seal the series. The afternoon session was moments away from resuming, with the players out in the middle and ready to start, before rain prevented a ball from being bowled. The afternoon session was washed out and an early tea was taken at 3:20 p.m. to ensure maximum play in the evening session. The evening and final session of the series resumed at 4:20 p.m. after an earlier inspection, with Head and Smith continuing their partnership for a further seven overs. In the eighth over of the session, Ali had Head edging to Root at slip for 43. Smith (54) followed in the next over, again edging to slip, this time off Woakes, after making his half-century in the previous over. One over later and Ali picked up another wicket, this time inducing an inside edge off Marsh, acrobatically caught behind by Bairstow for just 6. An Australian batting collapse of four wickets for 11 runs was complete in the following over as Woakes dismissed Starc second ball for 0, his fourth and final wicket of the innings. Cummins and Carey briefly stemmed the loss of wickets, and brought the target to below 100. However, Cummins attempted to pull Ali but deflected onto his pad and looped up a catch for Stokes at leg slip, falling for 9, leaving Australia requiring 90 runs and England two wickets, to win the Test. Carey continued to anchor the innings along with Murphy, both batters hitting boundaries to reduce the target to 55, before Murphy edged to Bairstow off Broad for 18. Broad then took the final wicket of Carey, with his final delivery in Test cricket, again caught behind for 28, to bowl Australia out for 334, secure a 49-run win and a 2–2 series draw. == Statistics ==