The much-hyped, highly anticipated and awaited Ashes 2023 series is here: the first Test of the 5-Test series will kick-start on Friday, June 16, at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
Although Australia are the current Ashes holders, having hammered England 4-0 at home in the last series, the upcoming rubber promises to be a tough contest between two teams which are high on confidence: England on their Bazball success having won 11 matches and lost only 2 under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, while Australia are the reigning World Test Champions having defeated India in the WTC Final last week.
The first look of the pitch at Edgbaston was revealed by senior journalist George Dobell, who believes it is a good cricket pitch meaning the batters are expected to run the show as has been the case with England’s Bazball approach.
Test captain Ben Stokes had earlier stated that he’d like to have flat and fast pitches for the Ashes as that has suited his team’s style of play over the past year, which included Test series win over New Zealand, South Africa, and victory here in Edgbaston over India last year, plus a 1-1 drawn series in New Zealand while their memorable series win came over Pakistan 3-0 in Pakistan.
“We’ve been very clear, especially with the ground staff around England, about what type of wickets we want,” Stokes told Sky Sports in April.
”And they’ve been very responsive to us which has been good. We want fast, flat wickets. We want to go out there and score quickly. It brings their (Australia‘s) guys in: if they’ve got fast wickets to bowl on then they’ll be happy with that as well.”
While the pitch is likely to favor the batters and runs are expected in the first two innings of the match, there is also some ambiguity around the Edgbaston surface a couple of days ahead of the first Test. Although there is some grass visible on the surface, there are also dry patches on the pitch which has left fans confuse as to whether it will be more helpful to spinners and pacers.
Ashes 2023: Here is the look at the Edgbaston pitch and fans’ reaction to it:
