![Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins inspired a stunning victory. Picture Getty Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins inspired a stunning victory. Picture Getty](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/5ffcc3ae-e177-44ff-86f0-5d6a601dba81.jpg/r0_82_3703_2164_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Perspective is a rare commodity in sport.
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But if Edgbaston 2005 is the greatest Test match of all time, this one is surely going to be close behind.
If you stayed up beyond midnight and into the early hours of Wednesday morning [AEST], you did it because you wanted to see if they could really do it.
If Usman Khawaja, the elegant left-hander whose revival had continued with a first innings century, could carry Australia to one of its great Test victories. If Travball could outdo Bazball. If "Australia's pin-up boy" Pat Cummins could carry the weight of a nation on his shoulders.
An unbroken 55-run partnership between unlikely heroes Cummins and Nathan Lyon ensured Australia will take a 1-0 series lead to Lord's, capping off an unforgettable two-wicket victory.
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Cummins finished unbeaten on 44, Lyon on 16. It was fitting they carried Australia home having bowled the visitors back into the contest with four wickets apiece on day four.
"Lost for words, really," Lyon said before turning his attention to the captain.
"He's Australia's pin-up boy, isn't he? Mr Perfect. Everything Patty does seems to work. I've got nothing but respect for him, he works his arse off. It's bloody special, what he does.
"We had the belief. As a professional athlete, if you don't believe, you might as well go home.
"It's massive, it's a massive moment, but every Test you play for Australia is massive. We were lucky enough to win here in 2019, so it's great to do that. We'll celebrate tonight and celebrate the week we've had, but then we have to go back to work.
"It's going to be a thrilling series. We see the brand of cricket England is playing, so there is going to be chances for us, but we just need to stay calm and believe in ourselves."
You can measure cricket's health by many a metric: crowd figures, television pay deals, ratings, clicks, how many kids are wearing magenta, orange, or one of the differing shades of blue or green worn under the bright lights of the Big Bash (you know, the cash cow expanded so rapidly people had a gutful), whether or not the national team is on the nose again.
Undeniably, the game's greatest strength is the theatre of Test cricket. It is every summer and it is this winter.
Ollie Robinson is public enemy No.1 after giving Khawaja both barrels (even after the Australian opener had scored 141) and then coming back for more; David Warner has still never scored a Test century in England and this series marks his last chance before he walks away after the New Year's Test in Sydney; his sparring partner Stuart Broad is adept at playing the villain; Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are both extremely rare talents and rare units; Scott Boland still needs a statue; and Ben Stokes grinds our gears because he could have been a Black Cap.
![Usman Khawaja was named man of the match. Picture Getty Usman Khawaja was named man of the match. Picture Getty](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/dc91bb7a-313f-4f59-bdc8-b288b8716be4.jpg/r0_236_4626_2837_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Some can't comprehend being so entranced by a game that goes for five days and still might not have a winner.
But the rest of us don't care, because it's the Ashes.
"If we'd not kept people on the edge of their seats, I'd be very surprised," Stokes said.
You wonder how Michael Kasprowicz would have felt if he managed to keep his eyes open on the final day. Even if he was awake, there may well have been times he kept them shut.
He was the last man dismissed during that 2005 epic, when Australia's pursuit of 282 ended in dramatic fashion. With just two wickets in hand and 107 left to win, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Kasprowicz so nearly willed the visitors over the line only for Steve Harmison to have the latter caught behind while three runs shy of victory.
Australia, while targeting their highest successful run chase in England in 51 years, were in a far better position this time around.
As the skies cleared and covers were removed from the Edgbaston pitch after lunch on Tuesday, Australia needed 174 more runs for victory and England seven wickets after the tourists went to stumps on day four at 3-107, chasing 281.
Khawaja anchored the innings with 65, but Stokes had his number. Who else? The England captain does theatre better than most. His Headingley century four years ago is rightly lauded as one of the greatest knocks of all time. Weeks earlier he had masterminded England's World Cup triumph in a nerve-shredding final against New Zealand.
Man of the match Khawaja's departure left Australia in need of 72 more runs and a new hero.
Their run chase was starting to feel like death by a thousand cuts when Alex Carey's plan to go after Joe Root - who went at just two runs per over - went up in smoke as he carted one straight back to the bowler.
![Ben Stokes and the English side were left gutted. Picture Getty Ben Stokes and the English side were left gutted. Picture Getty](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/9c80edb2-9234-4558-b432-3ddfecf8388e.jpg/r0_216_5388_3245_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
So it was down to Cummins, Lyon and Josh Hazlewood to replicate the deeds of Warne, Lee and Kasprowicz with 54 runs required for a famous victory.
Cummins took 14 from Root's next over. When the leaping English captain dropped Lyon an over later, it felt as though the tide was turning.
"Now it's starting to get a little bit more like 2005," Ricky Ponting said on commentary with Australia needing six runs to win.
But unlike 18 years ago, the beers tasted a little sweeter in the Australian dressing room.
"I'm not going to lie," Khawaja said, "I was basically shitting myself for five minutes at the end there."
It was following Australia's World Test Championship triumph Cummins said: "Ashes tend to define eras and teams".
No team has won an overseas Ashes campaign in 12 years. England were the last to do so in 2010-11, when Graeme Swann switched on the sprinklers after the Boxing Day Test.
Australia went agonisingly close four years ago, letting a golden opportunity slip as England clawed their way back to draw the series. Maybe this time they end the drought.
To Lord's we go.
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