ASHES 2023

'That's why I love Test Cricket' - Fans go berserk after Zak Crawley hit a boudnary on first ball of Ashes 2023

The Ashes 2023 have started with a bang as Zak Crawley hit a four on the very first ball of the first match of the series. Here's the video

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Zak Crawley

Zak Crawley (Source - Twitter)

Zak Crawley Zak Crawley (Source - Twitter)

The Ashes 2023 has started with a bang as England's opener Zak Crawley hit a four on the very first ball of the first match of a five-match series at Edgbaston, Birmingham. England are hosting Australia for the oldest rivalry in Test cricket. Australia will be looking for retaining the Ashes urn and also win a Test series in England for the first time after 2001. Meanwhile, England will also be looking to win the Ashes series for the first time since 2015.

Talking about the ongoing match, the hosts England won the toss and elected to bat first. Australian skipper Pat Cummins decided to start with the ball as he bowled the first over of the match. However, Cummins got smashed for a boundary on the very first as Crawley hit a beautiful cover drive to kickstart the series. His shot also got a special reaction from the skipper Ben Stokes.

'He is a player who can produce unbelievable match-winning performances' - Stokes about Moeen Ali

Notably, Stokes has shown his commitment to building a formidable squad after he took a significant decision to bring Moeen Ali out of retirement. Notably, the spin-allrounder decided to take retirement from Test cricket at the end of 2021 English summer. However, he reversed his decision after a discussion with the skipper, coach Brendon McCullum and Managing Director Rob Key.

"He (Moeen) is a player who can produce unbelievable match-winning performances, albeit a long time ago (in tests), and it was something I couldn’t look past," said Stokes as quoted in India Today.

"That was a stomach and a heart feeling rather than my brain. I've generally stuck with my gut and my heart throughout my whole captaincy so far. Moeen Ali is going to come in here and I’m looking at what he can offer to this team on his best days and not worrying about anything else,” he further added.

Talking further about the match, England lost the first wicket early in the form of Ben Duckett at the score of 22 runs in 3.4 overs. After that Crawley and Ollie Pope added 70 runs for the second wicket. Pope got out after scoring 31 runs off 44 balls, While Crawley went on to score a half century and got out after a well-made 61 runs off 73 balls hitting seven boundaries. England are currently nearing 150-run mark with Joe Root and Harry Brook on the strike.

Here's how fans reacted to Zak Crawley's shot:

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