2023 Ashes series
The 2023 Ashes series, branded as the LV= Insurance Men's Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons, was a series of Test cricket matches played between England and Australia for the Ashes in June and July 2023. The five-match series was a part of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship, the venues being Edgbaston, Lord's, Headingley, Old Trafford and The Oval.
The result was a 2–2 draw, with Australia retaining the Ashes.
The 2023 series was the 73rd Ashes series and the 37th to take place in England. Uniquely for a series hosted by England, there were no Tests in August, the dates having been brought forward to avoid a clash with The Hundred tournament. It was also the first time in which Australia played no matches against English county teams, although they did face India in the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final a week before the start of the series.
The series was closely and, at times, acrimoniously contested at a time when the continued relevance of Test cricket was being called into question in comparison with shorter forms of the game. The ability of the England team to recover following two narrow defeats with two narrow victories has been ascribed to their introduction of the aggressive Bazball style of play. Australian players Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Starc topped the batting and bowling charts with totals of 496 runs and 23 wickets respectively. The England team were known for the age of their bowlers, with their bowling line-up for the fourth Test being the oldest in 95 years.
Squads
England announced their squad on 3 June 2023, whilst Australia announced theirs on 18 April 2023. Jimmy Peirson was added to the Australia squad as cover for Josh Inglis. On 4 June 2023, Jack Leach was ruled out of the series with back stress fracture; Moeen Ali was named as his replacement. On 23 June 2023, Rehan Ahmed was added to England's squad as a cover for Moeen Ali who suffered blisters in his spinning finger during the first Test. On 3 July 2023, Australia's Nathan Lyon was ruled out of the last three Tests due to an injury, with Michael Neser added to the squad. On the same day, Australia's Matt Renshaw and England's Rehan Ahmed were both released from their respective squads. On 4 July, Ollie Pope was ruled out the final three Tests due to a dislocated shoulder sustained whilst fielding in the second Test.Matches
First Test
Day one
Australia entered the first Test with the decision whether to select Scott Boland ahead of either Josh Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc, after his performance against India in the World Test Championship final in the previous week. Ultimately Boland was selected ahead of the left-arm fast bowler Starc.England won the first toss of the series and elected to bat first. Australia captain Pat Cummins opened the bowling with Zak Crawley striking the very first ball of the innings for four. Ben Duckett was caught behind for 12 off Hazlewood in the fourth over. Ollie Pope then fell for 31, lbw to Nathan Lyon at the end of the 18th over. Crawley reached his half-century two balls later. However, with two balls remaining before the lunch break, Crawley was caught behind on review for 61 off Boland, meaning England entered the lunch break on the first morning 124/3.
After lunch, Harry Brook and captain Ben Stokes were both dismissed in the space of nine balls, with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow seeing England through to tea on 240/5. Five balls after tea, Root reverse scooped Boland for six. Bairstow, followed by Moeen Ali, were both stumped by wicketkeeper Alex Carey, before Stuart Broad was bowled by all-rounder Cameron Green. Root reached his fourth Ashes century and 30th Test century overall in the 76th over. After scoring 20 runs off it, England declared at the end of the 78th over on 393/8 with Root 118* and Ollie Robinson 17*. Australia's openers were sent in to face four overs before the close of play in which they reached 14/0.
Day two
Day two began five minutes later than scheduled due to the boundary rope needing to be laid out. In the 11th over Broad claimed the wicket of David Warner for the 15th time in Tests, before dismissing Marnus Labuschagne the very next ball for a golden duck. Stokes then removed Steve Smith in the 27th over, leaving Australia 78/3 at lunch.Both Usman Khawaja and Travis Head reached half-centuries after lunch, the latter falling to Moeen Ali for exactly 50 in the 46th over. Two balls later Bairstow missed a chance to stump new batter Cameron Green. Australia reached tea without losing any further wickets on 188/4. In the evening session, Moeen Ali bowled Green for 38 in the 68th over, before Khawaja cut Stokes for four to bring up his 15th Test century and first in England in the next over. In the 81st over and having taken the new ball, Stuart Broad bowled Khawaja but the umpire deemed that Broad overstepped, resulting in a no-ball and therefore no wicket. Australia closed on 311/5, 82 runs behind England.
Day three
In the morning session, James Anderson bowled Carey for 66, before Ollie Robinson finally dismissed Khawaja for 141. This wicket resulted in Robinson giving Khawaja a "send off", being accused of verbally abusing the Australian batsman after taking his wicket. England went on to claim the remaining wickets before the lunch break, leaving Australia 386 all out and a first innings deficit of 7 runs.Beginning their second innings and looking to extend their slender lead, England reached 26/0 in 6.5 overs before rain stopped play. Play resumed 105 minutes later, with tea pushed back from its scheduled time by 80 minutes. The rain returned 20 minutes later, however, to stop play once again, although in that time both of England's openers, Duckett and Crawley, fell in the space of four deliveries to Cummins and Boland, respectively. Tea was taken, but the remainder of the day's play was called off.
Day four
England resumed their innings on 28/2, but Cummins bowled Pope in the 17th over. As Harry Brook took the attack to Australia, Root was stumped by Carey off Lyon four runs short of a half-century in the 26th over. Brook fell for the same number of runs as Root, again off the bowling of spinner Lyon, in the 34th over. In the last over before lunch, Bairstow was given out lbw by umpire Erasmus but the decision was overturned on review with the ball going on to miss leg stump. England reached lunch on 155/5, a lead of 162 runs.After lunch, Bairstow fell lbw to Lyon, before Stokes also fell lbw this time to Cummins three overs later, with Stokes failing to overturn on review. England lost their eighth wicket in the 55th over, Ali gloving to Carey off Hazlewood. Lyon then got Robinson for 27 and James Anderson, in at 10, reverse-swept Lyon for four the very next ball. Anderson was the last wicket to fall, Cummins taking his wicket, but not before adding 12 runs, leaving England 273 all out and setting Australia a target of 281 runs to win the first Test.
Australia started their chase with two consecutive fours from Khawaja inside the first over. Warner was the first wicket to fall, in the 18th over, caught behind off Robinson. Labuschagne fell four overs later for 13, capping a poor Test by his standards. A further four overs later and Smith was caught behind off Broad for just 6, bringing Scott Boland to the crease as nightwatchman. Boland and Khawaja survived until close with Australia on 107/3, still requiring 174 runs to win with three sessions of cricket still to play.
Day five
The final day did not begin until 2:15 p.m. due to the weather. Australia lost their fourth wicket in the eighth over of the day, Boland caught behind off Broad. Ali then got Head caught by Root in the 45th over, leaving Australia 138 runs behind with five wickets remaining. Khawaja then reached another half-century, before taking Australia to tea on 183/5 with Cameron Green, requiring 98 runs.After tea, Robinson bowled Green for 28, before Stokes dismissed Khawaja for 65, bringing Cummins at 9 to the crease. England chose not to take the new ball when it became available and got their reward, taking Australia's eighth wicket, Carey caught and bowled by Root. Australia at this point still required 54 runs with just two wickets remaining. Despite taking the new ball, England could not take the remaining two wickets required and Cummins and number 10 batter Lyon chased down the remaining runs to win by two wickets.
Second Test
Day one
Australia went into the second Test making one change to their line-up with Mitchell Starc returning in place of Scott Boland. England also made one change, bringing in pace bowler Josh Tongue for only his second Test and Ashes debut, to replace Moeen Ali, who suffered a finger injury in the previous Test. England won a second consecutive toss and opted to bowl first. Australia began the morning session well and, after a very brief rain delay, David Warner brought up a half-century with a six in the 22nd over. Two overs later, Tongue bowled Usman Khawaja for 17 to pick up his first Ashes wicket. This wicket also brought the lunch break with Australia 73/1.After lunch, rain stopped play but once again the delay was short lived and soon after Tongue picked up a second wicket, this time bowling Warner for 66. Steve Smith was given out caught behind off Stuart Broad but the decision was overturned on review with replays showing a clear gap between bat and ball. Marnus Labuschagne was also given out off Broad, this time for lbw, but again the decision was overturned on review with ball tracking suggesting the ball would go on to miss the stumps. Smith then reached 9,000 Test runs, the second-fastest to reach that milestone after Kumar Sangakkara. Australia reached tea on 190/2.
After tea, Ollie Robinson got Labuschagne caught behind for 47 and Smith brought up his half-century in the 61st over, which was soon followed by Travis Head's 50 off 48 balls. Head was later stumped by Jonny Bairstow off Joe Root for 77, and new batter Cameron Green fell to Root three balls later for a duck. England took the new ball with two overs remaining before stumps, but Australia held out to reach 339/5 at the close.