The 2019 Specsavers Ashes Series came to a conclusion at The Oval with the end of the fifth test in London, with the Kangaroos retaining the Ashes. The season of stark rivalry amongst England and Australia takes an interlude. Here’s taking a look at the season’s top performers that set the blaze in the Ashes Series, 2019.
Bradman-esque performance of Steve Smith with the Bat
Smashing 3 centuries, three half-centuries with a total of 774 runs; an average of 110.57 (with a mere 4 runs behind Brian Lara’s 778 in 1994) is Australia’s Steve Smith, turning the tables onto the English with his historic performance. Smith takes home the rightfully earned Compton-Miller Medal and the title of Man of the Series of the Ashes series of 2019; which is going to be his second consecutive medal. Smith has the highest number of fours in the tournament with a sensational 92 fours.
Smith makes a stellar comeback to Test Cricket after missing about 3 of the Ashes innings and a gap of about a year and 4 months.
Ben Stokes bludgeons 135* off of 219
Ben Stokes’ best individual inning in the tournament will not be forgotten as a stunning 135 off 219 at Headingley Carnegie secured a day 4 victory for the English in his deus-ex-machina moment, in the Specsavers Ashes of 2019. Stokes’ performance resuscitated the English innings and kept hopes alive, snatching victory in the face of defeat by a single wicket.
Stokes delivered a commendable performance in the Ashes by striking 441 runs (second highest in the tournament, after Smith) with a batting average of 55.12, a strike rate of 57.05. Stokes in the tournament has also struck the ball the highest number of times for sixes, with a total of 13 sixes in the tournament.
Eviscerating the top order with the ball: Pat Cummins
Without the hint of a doubt, Australia’s top pace bowler Pat Cummins yet again claims his name as one of the world’s best with 29 wickets at hand at the conclusion, which is a record breaking feat for the 26-year-old.
At the end of the Ashes 2019 season, Cummins is the Australian fast bowler with the most wickets on foreign soil having claimed 29 wickets in the series since Glenn McGrath’s 32 wicket capture in the year 2001. If that weren’t enough, Cummins’ record breaking spree includes the most overs bowled by an Australian fast bowler in a Test series surpassing McGrath’s record of 209, claiming his own by bowling about 211 overs. With the conclusion of the 2019 Ashes series, the 26-year-old has claimed the top spots in the ICC ranks for bowling with a consolidated position.
With a total of 61 maiden overs bowled out of a total 211 overs, an economy of 2.69 and the second-best bowling average (behind Mitchell Marsh), Cummins has yet again established that the bowler is a force to be reckoned with in the Australian cricket team.
Rory Burns lights the Ashes aflame
Popularly being referred to as the ‘successor’ to Root owing to his splendid performance as the England opener, Rory Burns take the global spotlight, striking 390 in the tournament, with a batting average of 39.0 and a strike rate of 43.53, acquiring the third spot in the list of the top 10 batsmen this season. Rory’s bat struck a century and two half-centuries during the 71st Ashes, 2019.
The play that astounded everyone in the stands: Marnus Labuschagne
Fourth on the list of the most stellar performances by batsmen in the Ashes 2019 series stands Australia’s most versatile all-rounder: Marnus Labuschagne. Labuschagne fetched an astounding 353 runs at a batting average of 50.43 and a strike rate of 51.01, tying with England’s Rory Burns for the number of boundaries hit this tournament at 49.
Labuschagne had to don the pads to bat for the Kangaroos after Smith was struck by a bouncer at Lord’s from Jofra Archer, and Labuschagne undeniably has left no stones unturned to prove his batting prowess in the momentous clash for the Urn between Australia and England in the 2019 Ashes series.
