Australia won the first match of the Ashes Series 2023 by two wickets. The match was played at Edgbaston and the Australian team showed their excellent batting skill while chasing the target against England’s Baseball approach. It was Usman Khawaja, the left-handed Australian opener who turned out to be the most successful batter for Aussies.
He was the hero for the winning side and scored 141 runs in the first innings and 65 runs in the second innings of the match. He faced England’s attacking department as well as the spin of Moeen Ali and was given the ‘Player Of The Series’ for his outstanding contribution with the bat.
Khawaja made a unique record and achieved a huge milestone which is not easily possible for any batter. He becomes the 13th batsman to bat for all five days of a Test cricket match. Before him, the former Australian batter Kim Hughes achieved this feat back in 1980 at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The first batter to do this was an Indian, ML Jaisimha, who achieved this in 1960 against Australia at Eden Gardens. Other Indian players who have achieved this huge milestone are former Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri and the star batter of Test Cricket Cheteshwar Pujara.
Talking about this match, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon took Australia home when the middle order collapsed on Day 5. England declared its first inning on 293 runs at the loss of eight wickets while they were bundled out on 273 runs in the second innings. On the other hand, Australia scored 386 runs in the first innings and then won the match by getting the target of 281 runs.
