Ashes 2023 will be remembered as one of the most entertaining cricketing series in this century thus far. Five back-to-back engrossing Tests throwing numerous twist plots during the course of the last six weeks have it in them to qualify as a marquee series in real sense.
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If truth be told, it is quite fitting that the series has ended in a 2-2 draw. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it would’ve been quite unfair had any of these two teams not shared the trophy at The Oval today.
A series interrupted by inclement weather conditions several times faced the brunt of the weather gods on the final day as well. An elongated last session of the series was followed by rainfall washing out the penultimate session.
England, who needed seven wickets to draw the series and avoid a maiden series loss under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, accomplished the task in the next 28.4 overs. Bundled out for 334 in 94.4 overs, Australia fell short of what would’ve been a record-breaking run-chase with respect to this stadium by 49 runs.
Ashes Man Of The Series 2023
Highest wicket-taker in the series in spite of playing a match less than some of the other bowlers, Australian speedster Mitchell Starc was their Player of the Series. In the four matches that he played, Starc picked 23 wickets at an average of 27.08, an economy rate of 4.86 and a strike rate of 33.43.
For the unversed, Test series in England comprises a Man of the series from each team. As far as the home team is concerned, all-rounder Chris Woakes bagged the award. Woakes, who played only three Tests, was the third-highest wicket-taker on the back of his 19 scalps coming at an average of 18.14, an economy rate of 3.04 and a strike rate of 35.78.
Been playing Test cricket since 2011, it is worth of a mention that this is Starc’s first Test series award after 82 matches. Woakes, meanwhile, bagged a Player of the series for the second time in his 48-match career.
