AUS vs ENG: Second Time In History! England Achieve Rare Feat In Manchester Test

England National Cricket Team achieved a rare feat following their domination with the bat in the fourth Test of the Ashes 2023 against the Australia National Cricket Team at Old Trafford in Manchester.

England won the toss and elected to bowl first in the match. Chris Woakes shined with his spectacular 5-wicket haul as they managed to bowl out the visitors for 317 in 90.2 overs. Stuart Broad also picked up two wickets while James Anderson, Mark Wood, and Moeen Ali got one wicket each.

Batting in their first innings, England lost opener Ben Duckett for 1. However, a sensational 121-run partnership between Zak Crawley and Moeen Ali brought back the momentum towards the hosts.

After Ali got out for 54, Crawley stitched together an even better partnership with Joe Root and together they demolished the strong Aussie pace attack. Both the batters played attacking brand of cricket and added 206 runs, before the dismissal of Zak Crawley.

Crawley stuck to the ‘Bazball’ approach throughout his innings and smashed outstanding 189 runs off 182 balls, with 21 fours and 3 sixes. Soon Joe Root also got out after scoring 84.

Then, Harry Brook and captain Ben Stokes joined forces and they scored 61 and 51 runs respectively. In the end, Jonny Bairstow destroyed the Australian bowlers and was set to register a century. However, he was left stranded one run short of England’s second-fastest Ashes hundred as James Anderson was trapped LBW on the striker’s end.

England Top 7 in the first innings of 4th Ashes Test:

Zak Crawley – 189(182)

Ben Duckett – 1(6)

Moeen Ali- 54(82)

Joe Root – 84(95)

Harry Brook – 61(100)

Ben Stokes – 51(74)

Jonny Bairstow – 99*(81)

England Achieve Rare Feat In Ashes 2023 4th Test

With 6 out of the top 7 batters scoring 50-plus runs in the match, England managed to enter the history books. This was the second time in the history of the Ashes that six out of England’s top seven scored 50-plus runs in an innings.

Six out of the top seven scoring 50+ in an Ashes Test:

Eng vs Aus The Oval 1893

Aus vs Eng Sydney 1920

Aus vs Eng The Oval 1930

Aus vs Eng The Oval 2001

Eng vs Aus Old Trafford 2023

Also, this was only the third time that five out of England’s top six batters scored 50-plus runs in a Test innings. The first two instances of England achieving this milestone came way back in 1893 at The Oval and in 1926 at the Lord’s.

Overall, this was the first time since 2009 that five out of England’s top six batters scored 50-plus runs in a Test innings. Australia have achieved this feat eight times, with the last coming at SCG in 2018.

Five out of the top six scoring 50+ in an Ashes Test for England:

The Oval in 1893

Lord’s in 1926

Old Trafford in 2023

The Ben Stokes-led side also crossed the 500 runs mark and this was the first time since 1985 at Edgbaston that the Three Lions went past the 500 runs total in a home Ashes Test. Also, the last time England went past 500 runs total in an Ashes Test was at SCG in 2010/11.