How Australia Secured the Ashes - and Where It Was Sealed

Australia won the Ashes 4-1 against England. Here’s a summary of strategies, statistics and stories that defined the Ashes, a test cricket series between England and Australia. This article focuses on Australia, the other article focuses on England.

Who were Best Players for Australia in the Ashes?

Starc was awarded best player of the series for getting a series high 31 wickets and 18 of those were in the first two test matches when Australian bowlers, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood were out. 

Starc got a wicket in the first over four times throughout the series and dismissed England batsmen, Ben Duckett and Stokes five times throughout the series. 

Starc’s wobble seam delivery was particularly successful against Stokes and according to former Australian bowler, Damian Fleming, on his podcast The Fast Bowling Cartel, it has made Starc a more consistent bowler. 

This delivery was mostly deployed outside off stump, seaming away from right handed, but it seamed in against Stokes, and bowled him between his bat and pad two times in the series.

Head scored a series high 629 total runs, including three centuries. 

Head was made opener in the second innings of the first test because batsman Usman Khawaja had back spasms.

Head got Australia to fast starts in this position scoring at a strike rate of 87 (strike rate refers to how many runs a batsman scores per 100 balls, in other words it measures how quickly a batsman scores and a higher strike rate means they’ve scored faster).

Head scored 123 runs from 83 balls in the first test to help Australia chase 205. 

Stokes said he was ‘shell shocked’ by Head’s innings because he was ‘confident’ England could bowl Australia out, but Head had ‘an answer for everything’. 

England later bowled at leg stump line to prevent Head scoring through the off-side that he is most skilled at. 

Carey averaged 46 with the bat and took 27 catches, the third highest in an Ashes series ever. 

Australian bowler, Scott Boland was consistent and put pressure on the England batsman. For example in the final test, he had an economy rate of 1.84 runs per over and he bowled a fourth stump line to Root in his eleventh over that Root did not score from. Then on the last ball he bowled a straighter line that seamed in and Root was out lbw.

Which Australian Players are Under Pressure?

Australia’s batsmen Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green and Jake Weatherald were under the most pressure this series. 

Labuschagne averaged 29 runs in the series but he scored 48 and 37 runs respectively in the last test match. Labuschagne moved his batting guard further to the off-side so his legs covered the off-stump. 

This enabled Labuschagne to better judge whether he should leave or play the ball outside the off-stump because six out of his nine dismissals this series have been shots that he has nicked and have been caught behind the stumps. 

Weatherald averaged 22 runs for the series and struggled when the ball was bowled full because he was dismissed lbw on four occasions.

According to former Australian opener and coach, Justin Langer, Weatherald struggles to play the fuller ball because ‘his head is way outside the line of his feet’ and that ‘makes it impossible to hit down the ground’ and ‘he’s falling over a lot’. 

England also bowled short to Weatherald and despite his ability to score through the off-side against short-pitch bowling. England were validated for their short-pitch approach to an extent because Weatherald was caught in the outfield mis-hitting the short ball three three times in the series. 

Cameron Green averaged 24 runs in this series with a bowling average of 71 (bowling average refers to how many runs are scored per wicket). 

Green was outplayed by all-rounder Beau Webster, who was brought into the side for the SCG test. 

Webster scored 71 not out and got three wickets bowling off-spin. 

In test cricket overall, Webster averages 41 runs and 25 with the ball while Green averages 33 runs and 39 with the ball.

What were the biggest controversies during the series?

Australia’s review technology, Snicko, was controversial as Carey seemingly hit the ball to the wicketkeeper but the on field umpire gave it not out and when it was reviewed, the Snicko operator selected the incorrect stump mic to track the noise. This led the third umpire to give it not out too. 

The Snicko technology was under more scrutiny when the third umpire judged the ball had hit Jamie Smith's helmet when it appeared to come off his gloves instead. 

Through the stump mic you could hear the player's confusion, "Snicko needs to be sacked... that’s the worst technology there is... it made a mistake the other day and it made a mistake today," Starc said.

Australia’s decision not to play a spinner at Brisbane or the SCG also faced criticism.

Australian Selector, George Bailey, said they didn’t play a spinner in the day-night Brisbane test because ‘you’re going to be using seam bowlers‘ when it gets dark.

Neser obtained five wickets in the second innings of that test which validated his controversial selection over Lyon. 

But in Sydney it was the first time Australia had not selected a specialised spin bowler at the SCG since 1888. Acting captain, S. Smith said it was because he thought the wicket would not spin. 

But the wicket did spin for part-time spinners Webster and Jacks.

The lowest number of total runs were scored in the MCG test as the ICC deemed the pitch as ‘unsatisfactory’.

Stokes said the wicket ‘was not ideal’ and the MCG curator, Matt Page, said there was more bounce than expected.

There was debate over Usman Khwaja’s position in the team, he was a late inclusion in the third test and scored 82 and 40, respectively. Khawaja played the rest of the series and retired at his home ground of the SCG.