After five Tests, 1648 overs and 22 days of intense cricket, we didn't have a winner. The first drawn Ashes series in 47 years meant Australia held on to the urn despite remaining winless in a series in England since 2001. With the Ashes series of late getting increasingly one-sided, this was one to savour and was the most closely-competed series since the Magnum Opus in 2005.
THE ASHES, 2019
Smith and pacers stand out in an Ashes among equals
The Australian new ball duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood picked 49 of the 94 wickets that fell to bowlers © Getty
A win across formats in 18 years at England's fortress in Edgbaston set the tournament rolling for the visitors before an innings of a lifetime by Ben Stokes put the campaign back on track for the home side at Leeds. The standout player of the series, Steve Smith's return bolstered Australia to a win in Manchester but the over-reliance on Smith and Pat Cummins paved for a defeat for Australia in the series decider at the Oval.
Ashes series ending in draws
| Margin | Host | Season | Previous winner | Captain (Eng) | Captain (Aus) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | England | 1938 | Australia | Wally Hammond | Don Bradman |
| 1-1 | Australia | 1962/63 | Australia | Ted Dexter | Richie Benaud |
| 1-1 | Australia | 1965/66 | Australia | MJK Smith | Bob Simpson/ Brian Booth |
| 1-1 | England | 1968 | Australia | Colin Cowdery/ Tom Graveney | Bill Lawry/ Barry Jarman |
| 2-2 | England | 1972 | England | Ray Illingworth | Ian Chappell |
| 2-2 | England | 2019 | Australia | Joe Root | Tim Paine |
Opening batsmen struggle
The opening batsman from both sides struggled and in 20 innings combined they put up just a solitary 50-plus partnership for the first wicket. The average opening partnership in the series read just 12.55, which is the third-lowest in an Ashes series after 8.70 in England in 1888 and 11.50 in Australia in 1887/88.
Australian openers had a series to forget with the highest partnership of 18 in ten innings and an average 8.50 per stand. David Warner had a dreadful series scoring just 95 runs in ten innings with eight single-figure scores and falling to Stuart Broad seven times.
England openers, though they failed to put up substantial partnerships at the top of the order, did better than their Aussie counterparts individually. Rory Burns finished third highest on run charts with 390 runs, only behind Smith and Stokes, scoring a century and two fifties. In the four innings he opened the batting, Joe Denly scored 165 runs at 41.25 including two valuable second innings half-centuries.
Openers in Ashes 2019
| Player | Mat | Inngs | Runs | HS | Avg | 100s/50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rory Burns | 5 | 10 | 390 | 133 | 39.00 | 1/2 |
| Joe Denly | 2 | 4 | 165 | 94 | 41.25 | 0/2 |
| David Warner | 5 | 10 | 95 | 61 | 9.50 | 0/1 |
| Marcus Harris | 3 | 6 | 58 | 19 | 9.66 | 0/0 |
| Jason Roy | 3 | 6 | 57 | 28 | 9.50 | 0/0 |
| Cameron Bancroft | 2 | 4 | 44 | 16 | 11.00 | 0/0 |
Steven Smith was the stand-out performer of the series ©
Smith's Ashes
After being exiled from main-stream cricket for a year, the New South Wales batsman returned to his favourite format during the English summer and ended the series with a whopping 774 runs - 333 more than anyone else.
