The first Ashes Test between Australia and England is interestingly poised at the moment. Chasing 281 runs, Australia ended Day 4 at 107/3 needing 174 more runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. They bundled England out for 273 runs in the second innings and the 7-run lead in the first innings meant Australia had to chase 281 runs. Interestingly, no England batter scored a fifty in their innings even as three batters- Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Harry Brook getting out in the 40s.
This turned out to be the second highest score in an innings in Ashes history without an individual 50-plus score. The highest score in this aspect in 279 by Australia back in 2005 Ashes series at the same venue. Meanwhile, England repeated a 14-year-old record in Ashes in their second innings with 10 of their batters reaching double digits and scoring more than 10 runs with the bat.
Zak Crawley was the only batter in the line-up to get out in single digits. He scored only seven runs before getting out to Scott Boland. Even the lower order batters like Ollie Robinson, James Anderson and Stuart Broad contributed decently scoring 27, 12 and 10 runs respectively. The instance 10 batters scoring 10 or more runs in an innings in Ashes happened for the first time in 14 years.
As far as the first Test is concerned, it is hanging in balance at the moment with Scott Boland and Usman Khawaja in the middle. Australia have a long batting line-up and will be backing themselves to chase down 281. On the other hand, England will be keen on picking up early wickets on the final day to make things interesting and take the game down the wire.
