“The Ashes ends with the story book finish it deserved”
“Let’s go round again!” jokes coach McCullum
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Monday 31st July 2023
“The Ashes ends with the story book finish it deserved”
England 283 all out and 395 all out
Australia 295 all out and 334 all out
England win by 49 runs
“Oh I don’t believe it! He’s a magician this Stuart Broad”
Jim Maxwell, second sexiest voice in cricket
Minutes later, and at around 6.30pm local time after a two hour break for rain had threatened to scupper any chance of a positive result, “Stuart Broad takes the final wicket in a dream finale” and you could hear the unabashed pride flowing through the voice of commentator Jonathan Agnew for an England legend he’s watched from a very young boy grow into one of the very finest cricketers to ever grace the game. He writes his own scripts apparently, as well as lifting and replacing the bails atop the stumps when in need of a wicket, a form of cricketing witchcraft known only to the man who will seemingly pick a fight in an empty house if only to get his competitive juices flowing or bowling into that trademarked “corridor of uncertainty” to snag the edge of David Warner’s bat.
This evening’s storybook ending came not from the flashing blade of David Warner but a tentative edge from the bat of Alex Carey, caught Jonny Bairstow, bowled Stuart Broad. These sporting stories simply write themselves, don’t they? The triad of Lord’s together once more.
Broad, simmering with anger as the spirit of cricket came into question.
Bairstow the wronged party.
Carey the pantomime villain.
All a nonsense of course but tinder to fan the flames of an Ashes contest yet to really catch alight. All these incredible sporting weeks later: Broad grabs the wicket of Carey caught safely behind the stumps by Bairstow, and an Ashes and England legend had written his own story once more by taking the final wicket on the final day of his final ever Test Match, ensuring a 49 run victory and an Ashes series finishing level, rightly, at 2–2.
I have pages of notes on today’s final Ashes day of an English Summer 2023, countdown milestones as Australia needed 244 runs to win then 215 before their innings crumbled around them still needing 110 runs for an improbable victory. I have quotes too as Mark Butcher excitedly exclaimed “Woody’s done it again!” as with a touch of extra bounce and a slightly wider delivery, England’s rockets hurling fast bowler Mark Wood had snagged the edge of Marnus Labuschagne’s bat, the ball now safely in the bucket hands of Zak Crawley at 2nd Slip. “3 wickets in a row!” intoned the sexiest voice in all of cricket Mel Jones as Jonny Bairstow made a remarkable reaction catch to dismiss Mitchell Marsh and with Australia wobbling on the brink of total collapse, Mitchell Starc soon followed his mate back to the pavilion with his team “falling like dominos” to the inspired spells of bowling from Moeen Ali and particularly “Man of the Series”, Chris Woakes. We could wax lyrical on the plain and simple fact that Woakes has only played in three of the five matches and alongside the return of Moeen Ali to fitness and speedster Mark Wood, turned around a 2–0 series deficit into 2–1 (should have been 2–2) and their individual contributions leading to a 3–2 come from behind Ashes triumph.
Alas that was one story too far even for this Ashes.
"The Spirit of Cricket" - link to Amazon
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I still had Australia in front and favourites for the win after the rain delay but “that man Chris Woakes again” grabbed the vital wicket of Steve Smith and the visitors crumbled to a storybook defeat. 49 runs, 43 runs, 3 wickets and 2 wickets have been the tight winning margins in a series I firmly believe Australia warranted their 2–0 early advantage and had it not been for the rain of Manchester, a 3–2 come from behind Ashes series win for the ages for England. Going against perceived wisdom, Australia deserved their victories at Edgbaston and Lords. They hung in there and got over the winning line.
But England have been truly dominant ever since.
So an incredible Ashes series lived up to its hype and maybe even exceeded it. England coach Brendon McCullum joked he’d like to start the merry-go-round all over again as he’d had so much fun this Summer whilst his cricketing revolutionary partner and captain Ben Stokes beamed with pride at his team, the way he and Brendan want them to play the game, “express their talents”, play without fear, and to entertain a new audience for the sport they truly adore and a sport they are both trying to revolutionise for a new sporting age.
“It’s what Test Cricket needed” added Stokes in the immediate after match interviews for a watching television audience.
So say all of us.
“The Ashes ends with the story book finish it deserved” can be found cavorting across pages 245 through 248 and the penultimate chapter within my second book in a cricketing hat-trick of three entitled “The Spirit of Cricket”. Here are her literary stable mates that can also be purchased via Amazon or read for free should you have an Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” package.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.