Australia pulled off a thrilling win in the first Test match of the 2023 Ashes at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Tuesday, June 21. Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon recorded an unbeaten 55-run stand for the ninth wicket to snatch a two-wicket win from England's grasp. Cummins described a win as amends to Australia's infamous Headingley loss in 2019 and said that he and his teammates are now feeling satisfied to close that chapter.
Cummins turned out a hero at Edgbaston as he played a captain's knock of 44* off 73, the highest score by any cricketer batting at no.9 or lower in the fourth innings to win the match. Cummins also picked up four wickets in the second innings after scoring 38 runs in the first innings.
There was very little difference in between Cummin's match-winning performance and Ben Stokes' heroics in the Headingley Test in 2019. Despite getting bowled out on just 67 runs in the first innings, England registered a memorable one-wicket win while chasing a 359-run target. Stokes recorded 135* runs and pulled off a 76-run stand with Jack Leach with the latter scoring only one run.
Stokes' inhuman performance in Headingly Test had left the Australian side in disbelief and Cummins revealed that it was a painful suffering. After the game, the Australian skipper termed their loss in Headingley Test as an unfinished business that they needed to take care of it someday.
"We'd been on the other side of the pain last series," Cummins said to reporters. "What a wonderful Test match this was, really hard-fought, one of those ones that when you're on the other side it really hurts. It feels like one that got away, so it's a pretty happy dressing room in there at the moment to be one-up in the series.
"A lot of those guys were there at Headingley and it feels like we clinched one today that was out of our grasp there for a little while - it's pretty satisfying."
