Why this is the nip and tuck Ashes

Why this is the nip and tuck Ashes: Blunders by Smith and Labuschagne plus an injury to Lyon have narrowed the gap between the teams… but England’s bravery is spooking Australia too

• England and Australia have played out three pulsating clashes so far in the Ashes
• The intense drama means it is being tipped to be the greatest series of all-time
• Follow Mail Sport on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@mailsport 

By Sunday evening, after the third successive nailbiter of this classic Ashes series, the only thing that separated England and Australia was the 2-1 scoreline. More representative might have been 1.5-1.5. Crazily, it could also be 3-0 either way.

The numbers are so close as to be almost indistinguishable. England’s successful pursuit of 251 at Headingley took their haul to 1,809 runs for the loss of 55 wickets, compared with Australia’s 1,850 for 58.

It means each of England’s wickets has averaged 32.89 runs, and each of Australia’s 31.89 — a cigarette paper’s difference.

In fact, the only discrepancy between the sides has been their run-rate, with Bazball England scooting along at 4.47 an over, and Australia proceeding at a more conventional, though hardly sluggish, 3.43.

England are yet to bat for longer than 81.3 overs, while Australia have batted for at least 92.3 overs four times out of six. The teams have chosen different paths to roughly the same destination.

England and Australia have played out three pulsating clashes so far in this year’s Ashes series

Their contrasting styles of cricket have seemingly cancelled each other out over recent weeks

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Is this the closest Ashes ever? Australia’s winning margins of two wickets at Edgbaston and 43 runs at Lord’s followed by England’s three-wicket win at Headingley certainly take some beating.

The last time an Ashes series contained even two tight games was in 2005, when England won by two runs at Edgbaston and by three wickets at Trent Bridge, where they enforced the follow-on.

Before that, you have to go back to 1981, the other miracle series of modern times, when Australia’s four-wicket win at Trent Bridge was followed by victories for England by 18 runs and 29 runs at Headingley and Edgbaston respectively.

Otherwise, it is even further back, to 1928-29, when two of England’s four wins were by three wickets at Melbourne and by 12 runs at Adelaide.

It is possible, though, that no Ashes has got off to a more tense start than 1907-08, when Australia won the first Test at Sydney by two wickets, and England the second at Melbourne by one wicket — only for England to lose the next three games.

No: three close Tests in a row is unprecedented, and there are still two games to come, starting in Manchester a week today. It does not seem a stretch to suggest we could be in for five humdingers out of five.

Why is this? Part of the reason is that some of Australia’s big guns have not fired. Man for man, Pat Cummins’s team look stronger on paper than Ben Stokes’s, but the loss to injury of Nathan Lyon — an off-spinner with nearly 500 Test wickets — has robbed the tourists of a match-winner. In his absence, Todd Murphy, 22, was entrusted with only two overs during England’s run chase in Leeds.

Then there is the fact Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith have managed just one score above 50 between them in 12 innings — the same as Zak Crawley has managed in six. Deprived of big runs from the two players who began the series as Test cricket’s top-ranked batsmen, Australia have lost some of their middle-order potency.

England fans may argue that they would already have won the series were it not for a string of missed chances in the field. Had they lost in Leeds, the finger would have been pointed at Joe Root, who dropped Mitchell Marsh at slip only 12 runs into his run-a-ball 118.

Australia’s star batters Steve Smith (left) and Marnus Labuschagne (right) haven’t really fired

The calf injury suffered by Nathan Lyon (left) has also narrowed the gap between the teams

But the main factor keeping these sides so close together is the ambitious cricket being played by England, who forced Australia to set defensive fields from the first ball at Edgbaston.

At stumps that day, Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood even suggested his team had done well to limit England to five an over. His team have been yin to their opponents’ yang, the immovable object trying to blunt the irresistible force.

Stokes’s tactics, too, have produced tight finishes, and not just in this series.

In Pakistan, England won with minutes to spare at Rawalpindi thanks to his bold declaration. In New Zealand, they lost by one run at Wellington after choosing to enforce the follow-on rather than bat their opponents out of the game.

And at Edgbaston, it is possible the game would have ended in a draw had Stokes not declared on the first evening at 393 for eight in search of Australia wickets.

When a world-class team such as Australia come up against an England team who are constantly trying to push the boundaries, perhaps it is no surprise we can barely fit a fig leaf between them.

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