Ashes 2023 kicked off in style as Ben Stokes' England won the toss and elected to bat first in the first Test against Australia at Edgbaston on Friday (June 16).
Meanwhile in the series opener, Pat Cummins in a surprising move dropped his pace spearhead Mitchell Starc from Australia's playing XI and picked Josh Hazlewood instead in the high-voltage drama.
However, Australia skipper Cummins admitted that it was a tough call to leave out someone like Starc and cited workload management behind the bold move.
“We'd have batted as well. One change, Mitch Starc out, Hazlewood comes in. Tough call, Starc was really good last game but good to have someone like Hazlewood come in. Tough to manage the workloads, we'll assess things week by week, but that is a good problem to have. Good preparation to win the WTC final, we went into that fresh, we feel well suited and we are now eager to go. England will come at us, but that's okay,” Cummins said after the toss.
Meanwhile England captain said,“We'll bat first. Looks a great cricket wicket. Good toss to win. Very proud to be here with all the hype around, very special moment for me and the team. It has been tough at times with the energy, but that has been something we are good at in the past. Happy to have Mo back, unfortunate injury to Leachy. I've seen Mo produce some great performances in the past, we know what he can bring to the team”.
Australia's Playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland.
England's Playing XI: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
Head-to-Head records
So far 72 Ashes series have been played between the nation where Australia have clinched 34 of them while England have bagged 32 series and six series have been drawn. Both teams have locked horns with each other 356 times in Ashes with England emerging victorious on 110 occasions while Australia have won 150 matches with 96 encounters ended up in a draw.
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