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Follow UsWith six runs to spare and two wickets remaining, the English commentators tried to provoke the big bear, Ricky Ponting. It was a real snorter from them: "Hey Ricky, does this game remind you of Edgbaston 2005?"
Ponting may have been overwhelmed or petrified; it was the last game he wanted to remember at this crucial juncture in an Ashes clash. Two runs later, Ponting said, "Yes, it does remind me. Australia needed just four runs."
Eighteen total years back, Ponting was in that dressing room, biting his nails, quite anxious about the result. That video on YouTube today alone has 6.6 million views. The 2023 fixture at Edgbaston was the answer to the biggest What if in the cricketing industry.
What if Australia chased down 281 in 2005?
In 2023, at Edgbaston, almost everything was spookily similar. Batting on day one, England scored 407 in 2005 and 393/8 in 2023. Their run rates, their approach and the kick-off to the series were so similar. The 2023 series was dubbed the reincarnation of the 2005 Ashes - one of the best Test series to have been witnessed in the sport's history.
Australia trailed in both Tests. In both of them, their top-run scorer was a left-handed opener; Justin Langer (82) in 2005 and Usman Khawaja (141) in 2023. As the trend repeats, in Australia's second innings, two familiar figures - Brett Lee and Shane Warne - put their hands up in 2005.
Guess who did that here? Pat Cummins and the lead-spinner, Nathan Lyon. Australia chased 281 for a win in 2023 and 282 in 2005. It doesn’t end there, either. Australia were dead to rights in both the Tests, at 136/6 (2005) and 209/7 (2023).
Yet again, it was the familiar pair of Warne and Lee, oops, Lyon and Cummins, who were tasked to win the clash. The line of attack wasn’t too different, the approach wasn’t too different, and the Barmy Army’s amplified trumpets weren’t too different. But there was significantly, a significant difference - and that was the result.
The build-up to the last hour of play in 2023 was reminiscent of the 2005 Ashes. Social media painted itself in a familiar narrative, the audience, too, found comfort in a rather warm sweater of their nostalgic mem-zone.
Australia - players and the fans - knew that if the result ended in a similar fashion, it would leave them distraught and perhaps put them in a spot where they can’t quite recover. Because once is an incident, twice is a freaking disaster. Two batters, Lyon and Cummins, were well aware of that and thus began a partnership that blossomed into this Yellow Blossom that would have made Coldplay quite proud.
At one end was Lyon, who reflected it back at England, and the other was Cummins, who was soaking all the water like he was the highest variant of an ultra-ultra-soakable sponge. Cummins not only soaked enough pressure but also managed to put the pressure back on England as Bazball momentarily hit a wall.
But even then, Bazball remained Bazball as the English bowlers thumped at the grille of the Australian batters. Unlike in 2005, the demons were suppressed this time, the ghosts buried - once in for all.
Edgbaston repeated itself. But this time, Australia had the last laugh.
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“Don't know what you're talking about, mate!" uttered Pat Cummins at the post-match presentation.
You might be wondering, what’s made Cummins, an articulate man, puzzled? The talks of 2019 Headingley. Cummins, in his Black Mirror universe, has wiped out that part of the memory. It is that part of the memory that he doesn’t want to access for the most obvious reasons.
But we will access it.
2019, Headingley: England needed 73 runs to win, Australia one wicket. Clearly, the tickers ran: Australia need one wicket to win. A win for England, you must be a mad lad. But a riveting 120 minutes later, like a thriller movie, Ben Stokes you beauty had captured the essence and emotion of the English faithful.
Ask the Barmy Army, they will move around from North London to South London, trying to rub that victory in. Why is that match being highlighted all the way now? Apart from the two-wicket win and a close finish, there were two individuals in the middle of all things there - Lyon and Cummins.
It is almost impossible to remove these two from any situation. In 2019, England needed eight runs for a famous win with one wicket left. Cummins appealed loudly for an LBW, was it close? It wasn’t, but the gravity of the situation made the all-rounder convince skipper Tim Paine that England’s No.11 Jack Leach was a goner.
And he was horribly wrong. Australia lost all three reviews. An over later, it was Lyon’s turn. Stokes hit one towards the fielder, and Leach took off, but Lyon dropped the ball before he hit the stump. What a rookie error. A ball later, the wasted review comes to bite Australia back.
This Test had Australia win all over it, but then they squandered their luck and chance, with Cummins and Lyon amidst all things. It wasn’t any different in 2023 in Birmingham. The duo added 55 runs while chasing a fourth-innings total, only after delivering 42.2 of the 66.2 overs in England’s second innings.
If not anything, the pair was responsible for Bazball’s power failure in the second innings, with a combined figure of 8/143. A script couldn’t have been written any better, and four years later, they get their hands on revenge, one that was served CHILLED.
Fun Fact: The last time Australia chased a huge fourth-innings score, Pat Cummins made 13 not-out and hit the winning runs for the Kangaroos.
