England lost by two wickets in the first match of the Ashes series. World champions Australia have taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after winning a thrilling match in Birmingham. In the first match of the series, the excitement was at its peak and the match changed its course many times in five days. In the end, Pat Cummins's fighting innings gave his team an important victory. After this match, the veterans of the cricket world gave their opinion on social media and praised both the teams, because a very good match was seen on the ground of Birmingham for five days. Many former cricketers agreed that it was one of the most memorable matches of their lives. In this match, there was not only a close fight between the two teams, but the match between the bat and the ball was also equal.

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag described this match as the best match of the present time and wrote “What a Test match. One of the best I have seen in recent times. Test cricket is the best cricket. England made a bold decision to declare just before the end of the first day's play, especially considering the weather. But Khawaja was brilliant in both innings and Pat Cummins is the new Mr. Cool in Test cricket. What an innings under pressure and the partnership with Lyon was one to remember for a long time.

Top-ranked Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin compared the series to the 2005 Ashes, which is considered to be one of the best Test series in the history of cricket. England then defeated the star-studded Australian team 2-1 in the series.


Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers wrote about this match in several tweets. He congratulated both teams for this wonderful match. Along with this, he also defended England's decision to declare the innings on the first day. He compared the England team to Dhoni's team, which became IPL champions this year. De Villiers wrote that players in both teams play selflessly for the team, and no one bothers about their personal records.

(pc amarujala)