Black Armbands Ashes: Why Are England Wearing Black Armbands Today vs Australia At Edgbaston?

England batter Zak Crawley hitting a cracking cover drive against Australia captain Pat Cummins on the first ball of a five-match Ashes 2023 series was exactly why this enthralling contest was among the highly-anticipated cricketing fixtures of the year.

With the Aussies countering Bazball for the first time, this series has all the ingredients of a series which will be remembered for a long time. Going by their recent success, the home team’s relentless approach of attacking bowlers even in this format has it in it to be followed by other teams in the years to come.

England, however, have lost opening batter Ben Duckett (10) in the process. It was on the fourth delivery of the fourth over when the left-handed batter edged a Josh Hazlewood delivery to wicket-keeper Alex Carey behind the stumps. That being said, one doesn’t expect England to make any changes to their ploy in spite of losing a wicket.

Hazlewood, meanwhile, would be relieved at drawing first blood especially after replacing Mitchell Starc in the Playing XI.

Black Armbands Ashes

It is worth of a mention that both the English and Australian cricketers are wearing black armbands at Edgbaston on Day 1. The same was brought into notice during the national anthems before the start of the match.

For the uninitiated, the same has been done as a mark of respect towards the three deceased during a brutal attack in Nottingham earlier this week.

A 31-year old university graduate potentially named Valdo Calocane has been detained on suspicion of murder. Currently in police custody, he is accused with stabbing three people and injuring as many in the same attack.

Two 19-year old students named Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and a 65-year old caretaker Ian Coates have lost their lives in the horrific accident. With Webber being an amateur cricketer and O’Malley-Kumar playing both hockey and cricket at junior levels, Barmy Army will pay a tribute to them in the 56th over of the day.

We’ve been informed it’s the 56th over instead 🙏 https://t.co/R3gyiDHeJH

— England’s Barmy Army 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) June 16, 2023

Readers must note that O’Malley-Kumar was from Indian-Irish origin.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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