The Ashes 2013: 1st Test - 5 key moments of the match

England won the 1st Ashes Test by 14 runs

The media-hype generated ahead of the Ashes centered upon the weakness of the Australian squad, but all doubts regarding their ability to compete were washed away as they fell short of causing an upset within touching distance of the target.

England‘s 14-run victory may have won them this Test match, but it surely will go a long way in motivating the visitors as it was a moral victory for the Australian camp. They showed a fight that had gone missing under Mickey Arthur’s reign.

The Aussies have unearthed an absolute gem in 19-year-old Ashton Agar whose batting exploits have veiled his performance with the ball which was no less than impressive in the second innings. The opening-pair of Chris Rogers and Shane Watson looks a formidable one, but they need to strengthen their middle-order.

England on the other hand, will be delighted by the victory, but they will have a few causes for concern. The bowling department seems overtly reliant upon James Anderson who had to run-in time and time again to break frustrating partnerships.

The lower-middle order constituted by Matthew Prior and Jonny Bairstow needs to be strengthened as their role goes beyond scoring runs themselves to accumulating those additional runs with the tail. They can take a lesson from Australia in that aspect. They have a huge positive in Ian Bell’s century as he played a match-winning knock, but England’s dependency on the strong foundation provided by Alastair Cook remains intact.

The first innings was testament to the fact that they can be vulnerable to a meltdown in the absence of an anchorman.

Here is a look back at five key-moments that will mark this Test match in the memory of cricket fans:

5. Peter Siddle’s five-wicket haul

Peter Siddle

The fiery spell set the rhythm of this Test match, and spelt out the fact that Australia were no underdogs in this contest, much to the delight of cricket fans all over the world who had been starved of such breathtaking Test cricket due to many one-sided contests lately.

It was a great personal achievement for Siddle too. The bowler justified his role as the experienced campaigner amidst a bunch of new kids on the block. The talk ahead of the first Test had centered upon the prospective contest between Mitchell Starc and Alastair Cook, and the threat that would be James Pattinson, but Peter Siddle proved that you need not have prodigious swing to get wickets.

He is a work-horse who is the greatest asset a captain can have as he runs in every time. The key to his performance was a quick assessment of conditions that consequently meant that he was bowling full, but not too much, and on the imaginary fourth stump in the corridor of uncertainty.

4. Ian Bell’s century

Ian Bell

Ian Bell has promised a lot ever since he made his debut nine years ago in 2004. He is an old-school cricketer who can be the most elegant player to watch when he is on-song, but he has not lived up to the expectations.

His career has been punctuated by some outstanding performances, but not many would have tipped him to score the match-winning innings in the first Ashes Test ahead of the likes of Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson.

His perseverance paid off on the 4th day of the match as he played a couple of shots in the morning session to reach his century, the only one scored in the Test match, as he punched the air with exhilaration.

Watching his family cheering him on from the stands telescopes us out to ponder upon the multitudes of personal battles being fought under the umbrella of this larger rivalry. It was a picture perfect moment as he raised his bat to his team-mates and the crowd.

3. The unexpected exploits of Ashton Agar

A dream debut for Agar, which almost finished on the perfect note

The 19-year-old was a surprise selection on the morning of the first day of the Test match as he received his baggy green from Glenn McGrath.

His dogged resistance against the stellar English bowling line-up came at a time when Australia were down in the dumps. The occasion of the innings certainly had all the attributes of becoming a part of the Ashes folklore, and this one had its share of a few surprising elements too.

His selection was prompted by the possibility of him being a threat to Kevin Pietersen as a left-arm off spin bowler. Captain Michael Clarke talked about how he was drafted into the batting line-up as the number-eleven only because they wanted to ease his nerves before his debut in the Ashes and in international cricket, but he couldn’t conceal the fact that he himself was surprised by the manner in which he scored his runs.

It was not a typical number-eleven scratchy innings but was marked by a surprising competence against spin-bowling. Agar continued to live his dream debut as he picked up the critical scalp of Alastair Cook in the second innings when he was threatening to score big.

2. Stuart Broad’s ‘dismissal’

Stuart Broad stood defiantly in the middle despite a clear edge

One does not like to remember great Test matches by its controversial elements, but this one certainly got all the tongues wagging.

Stuart Broad was sticking it out in the middle as Ian Bell compiled an excellent innings at the other end when he edged one delivery from Ashton Agar that was deflected by the gloves of Brad Haddin before being caught at slips by captain Michael Clarke.

Umpire Aleem Dar whose competence we do not wish to question, happened to be in the middle of his mid-day nap when the incident occurred, as a result of which he refrained from giving Stuard Broad the finger.

The Australians were obviously appalled and captain Michael Clarke’s reaction genuinely reflected some of the hostility that is more appropriate in a boxing ring. As David Lloyd said from the commentary box, Stuart Broad ‘had the audacity’ at that moment to walk to the other end of the pitch as if he had just struck a lusty blow above the bowler’s head.

Michael holding made the valid point later in the day that since Dinesh Ramdin was fined and suspended for claiming a catch falsely (which amounted to flouting the spirit of the game), then Stuart Broad was guilty of the same. Michael Clarke however was more sympathetic to Stuart Broad later at the press-conference, treating Broad as a ‘victim of circumstance’.

Fancy term for a cheat? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

1. James Anderson’s magic ball to Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke – bowled by a dream delivery by James Anderson

As aforementioned, we would rather remember this engaging and enthralling Test match by some quality cricketing action than something controversial and hence, James Anderson’s magical delivery to Michael Clarke in the first innings stands out as the defining moment of the Test match.

These are the moments that a professional cricketer dreams of, the dream delivery bowled to the general of the opposite warship on the first day of the first Ashes Test. Who could have scripted it better?

Bowled from over the wicket, the delivery shaped in at first, pitching on the off-stump, but after pitching, moved away a tad from the picture perfect defensive prod of Michael Clarke, clipping the top of off-stump to dismiss the Aussie skipper as he tried to gather what had happened in the middle. That wicket, quite deservedly, took Anderson past Fred Trueman’s record of 307 Test wickets.

Anderson’s starred in the 4th innings of the match too, picking up his second five-for of the match, four of which came on the last day as he single-handedly defeated the resistance of the Australian lower-order.