England squared off against Australia in the first Test of Ashes 2023 at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham. On the final day of the game, Australia needs 174 runs to win the game while England needs seven wickets to take the lead in the series. Australia opener Usman Khawaja and Scott Boland went unbeaten on Day 4.
However, the start has been delayed due to rain in Birmingham. It has been pouring in Edgbaston, and the weather prediction predicts that things will improve after lunch. So the bad news is that the first session is washed out as teams are set to take lunch at 12:30 PM local time. Meanwhile, the good news is that there may still be two full sessions, which is more than enough time for this match to conclude.
On Day 4, Australia bundled up hosts for 273/10 in 66.2 overs as Australia skipper Pat Cummins and spinner Nathan Lyon clinched four wickets each. This gave visitors a great chance to clinch the game as they started well while chasing 281 runs. Opener David Warner and Usman Khawaja added 61 runs for the first wicket. Warner, in his innings, scored 36 runs off 57 balls with the help of four boundaries.
The top order crumbled after a great start
Ollie Pope dismissed Warner and opened floodgates as Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschange also got dismissed in cheap. Ace pacer Stuart Broad dismissed both as Smith scored 6 runs off 13 balls with the help of a boundary and Labuschange scored 13 runs off 15 balls with the help of three boundaries.
Notably, in this Ashes Test Labuschange was dismissed by Broad twice as in the first innings he registered a golden duck against Broad. Broad spoke about Day 5 and said, “There are still two results on the table I think. The intent from ball one was pretty clear. We are not a results-driven team in any way, shape, or form and you almost add pressure on yourself when you set targets of what you want to achieve. This could have been a draw on this type of pitch so us forcing the game forward makes a result possible tomorrow.”
“I think there is supposed to be a bit of cloud around tomorrow. We saw how much it zipped around when there was a cloud the other day. If you can get lucky as a bowling group and get an hour of that you can bring the game home pretty quickly. We feel pretty confident we can go and get 7 wickets and if we turn up tomorrow and there is a bit of cloud, I will have a smile on my face”, he further added.
Here is how fans react to the rain-interrupted first Ashes Test:
Bach Gaye haarne se, Aaye bade bazball wale
— Mukesh Ambani (Parody) (@AmbaniHu) June 20, 2023
Drawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
— Ashish. (@____ashish_m) June 20, 2023
Same happend with us in 1st test
150 chase krna tha bass 10 wicket hath mai thi
But barish ne ek ball tk ni dalne di ?
.. 3-2 hota vrnaaa— Rakesh (@h43825042) June 20, 2023
Called off bol ke fans ko upset mat kar bhai.
Play will resume in next 2-3 hrs. Hopefully 30-35 overs play will happen today— The Cric Maniac (@Cricfranatic) June 20, 2023
Like the IND vs England first test match called off due to rain otherwise Indian team won the series
— Moni chauhan (@Monichauhan007) June 20, 2023
Warra win for aus
Warra win for eng ???— VK18 GOAT? (@im_sandiprajput) June 20, 2023
Usual English weather.. 80% of matches are rain effected..
— Srikanth Dhulipala (@SrikanthDhul26) June 20, 2023
Rain can't help Australia to save this test match
— Husain (@husain_tweets18) June 20, 2023
Pvers are gone, wickets and runs are still the same. If we look at Australia, they will never go for draw and same is the case with current English team. Both will look to win and we will witness runs getting scored and wickets crumbling
— Sports syncs (@moiz_sports) June 20, 2023
Ohh that's a shame man.. Hope the match happens… Post rain, it will be a great for both teams to have a chance to close out
— Sanjumon (@starringSANJU) June 20, 2023
40 overs enough to chase, if Travis head also scored runs 30 overs enough to chase
— cric boss (@_mrpeacemaker_) June 20, 2023
Now this game will become interesting.
— Kapil Bora (@kapil1832006) June 20, 2023
I think 40 overs will be enough to dictate the winner ?
— Sandeep RRReddy (@Sandeep_abcdefU) June 20, 2023
