Rival skippers vow to stick with contrasting styles

Forget Edgbaston 2005, the memory that flashed through Pat Cummins' mind in the midst of his match-winning ninth-wicket partnership in the Ashes opener was another harrowingly tight run chase at Johannesburg in late 2011.

As Cummins quite rightly noted after closing out the most famous Ashes contest at the historic venue since Australia's gut-wrenching loss 18 years ago, most of his current team were in secondary school or younger when England stole the two-run win that is still eulogised in the UK.

And while the equally painful defeat at Headingley four years ago - when his current rival captain Ben Stokes played a knock of similar stature and steely nerve – also visited him during his unbeaten 44 on Tuesday, it was recollections of his Test debut that resonated loudest.

That was a match in which then 18-year-old Cummins had bowled like a jet in South Africa's second innings to give his team a shot at victory, before being called upon to find the winning runs with Australia eight wickets down and only batting bunny Nathan Lyon in the sheds.

On that occasion, Cummins played second fiddle to senior teammate Mitchell Johnson as they scratched out the 18 runs separating them from victory whereas this time Lyon was alongside him as the pair put together an undefeated stand of 55 against relentless and often hostile England bowling.

"At one stage batting out there with Nath, I was imagining him back in the sheds praying like he was in my debut Test," Cummins said with a broad smile, as he basked in the triumph of Australia's highest successful fourth-innings run chase (281) since that win at The Wanderers pursuing 310.

"There's been a lot of talk this week about 2005, but I think we were all about ten years old when that happened.

"I've seen the last over highlights, but that's about it so 2019 is probably the series we look at the most because most of us were here, and two-all at the end of that series felt like unfinished business.

"We played England in this first Test match, but also India a week ago (in the World Championship Final win) so we feel like we're suited to these conditions.

"We're used to them, we're a fairly stable team and we know what we need to do to be at our best.

'We'll keep doubling down on that."

Cummins' claim that Australia won't be altering their style or tempo of play was especially pointed, given the criticism he and his men copped from day one of the Ashes opener against a rampant (and often ramping) England now fully immersed in their ultra-aggressive ethos.

From the deployment of a fielder in a run-saving position at deep point in the game's first over, to the methodically slow rate of scoring in their ultimately successful run chase on a rain-interrupted final day, there's been no shortage of expert opining that his captaincy too quickly became too defensive.

However, with a win-loss Test match record that now stands at 13-3 from 21 matches since the preceding Ashes contest in Australia almost two years ago, Cummins shrugs off suggestions his men might be better served if they played a bit more like England.

"I think win or lose, we're pretty comfortable on how we go about it," Cummins said after Australia again won the opening skirmish of the five-match Ashes for the third consecutive series.

"We've been really good for the last 20 Test matches over a couple of years.

"Winning is nice, but I think we're at our best when we play at our own pace and our own tempo.

"I think that wicket being quite slow probably slowed down that tempo we're normally playing at as well.

"But you saw someone like Uzzie (player of the match, Usman Khawaja), the way he managed to negotiate his through an innings was pretty special."

As events transpired, Khawaja's epic double of 141 (in 478 minutes) in Australia's first innings followed by 65 (in 318) in the second proved a point of difference not only in productivity but, more markedly, in method.

Whereas England began the match in a flurry of boundaries and former captain Joe Root shone to post 118no before Stokes's surprise declaration late on day one, none of their batters reached 50 in the second dig with a number of them – including Root – throwing away their wickets through impetuosity.

But just as Cummins stands by his team's approach, so too does Stokes remain unapologetic for the way his side attacked the game from the first ball – which opener Zak Crawley punched through cover for four – and was adamant they had no intention to throttle back at Lord's from next Wednesday.

"There was so many questions around would we be able to implement our style of play against this (Australia) attack, against this team," Stokes said after the game where he confirmed he would repeat his day one declaration ploy if England found themselves in a similar subsequent position.

"Not just with the bat, but also with the ball against some unbelievable batsmen the likes of (Marnus) Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head.

"I think we've proved to ourselves that we can.

"Even though we're on the wrong end of the result, it proves we went toe-to-toe throughout the whole game with Australia.

"We've got four games left and that's what we'll be focusing on.

"One thing we've always done is concentrate on ourselves rather than the opposition, and implement our style of play regardless of what's going on from the opposition.

"Australia came into this game with tactics to try and counteract the way we play but we were so close to being here talking about it in a different manner."

Where the rivals with contrasting game styles and philosophical approaches can find commonality is their unshaking belief their respective methods provide them with the optimum chance of success.

Cummins' believes the sluggish Edgbaston pitch, upon which only one slips catch was claimed for the entire Test (Root off Head to the spin of Moeen Ali on day five), further tempered his team's already measured game style in which they scored runs at just above three an over throughout.

But it was ultimately vindicated with a win for the ages that he hopes will set them up to become the first Australia outfit to claim an Ashes series victory in the UK since 2001.

For Stokes, who had publicly requested flat, fast pitches even though they might blunt the influence of his seamers including 40-year-old James Anderson who did not bowl a ball in Sunday's frenetic final session, the surface was similarly problematic.

However, he took solace in knowing the 'entertain-at-all-costs' mantra he has adopted in his leadership tenure alongside coach Brendon McCullum lived up to his promise while also coming within a whisker of landing his team a win.

"Losing sucks," Stokes said when asked if the manner in which his team played helped dull the pain of defeat.

"But not putting the result at the top of everything we think about actually really helps us go out and play free-spirited cricket.

"If people haven't been on the edge of their seat throughout this whole Test match, in any situation the game found itself and in particular that last hour, then I'm not quite sure what will in cricket.

"We'll keep doing what we do and Australia, we'll sort of just let them operate in the best way they think is to operate against us."

If Cummins' thoughts during his hour-long partnership with Lyon turned, however fleetingly, to the Test debut that preceded almost six years out of the game due to a series of debilitating injury, then Stokes's mind conjured a more recent but equally epochal match.

Having launched a typically spectacular attempt to haul in a one-handed catch off a miscued Lyon pull shot when the Australia tailender was on three (he would remain 16no), Stokes could not help but recall that 2019 Headingley Test in which he singlehandedly carried England to victory.

On that equally chaotic afternoon, Stokes crawled and then eventually bludgeoned his way to a century that would not have been enough to steal the game from Australia but for Lyon fumbling a run out chance at the bowler's end with one run separating the teams.

"Who knows, if I do take that catch we might have got Josh (Hazlewood, Australia's number 11) out first ball and we win the game," Stokes said, in revealing he initially had trouble picking up the flight of the ball off Lyon's bat.

"But Josh could have come in and they still knock the runs off, you just never know.

"Going back to Headingley with Gaz (Lyon) dropping the ball over the stumps, it's amazing how the world comes around.

"I drop that catch here and he's there at the end, as one of the not out batsmen for Australia.

"It's mad how things go around, isn't it?

"I relive it in my head now, it was in my hand and it didn't manage to stick.

"It's one of those could-a, should-a, would-a moments … would have been a good catch though.

"Oh well, next one."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood