The Ashes 2023: The Ashes Test series in 2023 has been a thriller where it has been difficult to pin out the winner. This series hasn’t been like the 2021 Ashes series which was played in Australia.
In that red ball series, Pat Cummins and Co had humiliated the team which was led by Joe Edward Root. England had lost that series by a big margin.
But now, Ben Stokes and his men have a new avatar in the traditional format which is known as BazBall style. They have gained success in Pakistan which was their maiden Test win on that soil.
However, England started this ongoing series with a narrow loss in Edgbaston and Lords. Still, they trail behind by a margin of 1-2.
England won the 3rd Test match at Leeds by 3 wickets and because of that the Ashes 2023 series is also alive now. The last two matches of this Test series will be played at Old Trafford and Kennington Oval.
Stokes and Co will aim to bounce back and win this classic series of the red ball format even after starting this series on a losing note.
Today, in this segment we have picked the five Best Performers of the 3rd red ball match of the Ashes 2023 series which was played between England Vs Australia at Headingley in Leeds:
This pace bowler was the real star for the home side, England in this Test match at Leeds. Wood came in as a replacement for James Anderson after England lost the first two matches of this series.
Wood made an impact straight away in the 3rd Test match and he was also awarded the player of the match award.
Wood was off the Mark in the 1st innings with the ball. He picked a five-wicket haul which helped England to bundle out the Aussies for just 263 runs.
Mark also contributed with the bat in the hand. His cameo of 24 runs from just eight deliveries in England’s 1st innings made sure that his team is in the game.
Wood also picked up 2 wickets in the second innings and he was there when England was tottering in the run chase of 251 runs.
Mark scored 16 unbeaten runs in the second innings to ensure that the hosts win the 3rd Test match by a margin of three wickets and also keep the Ashes Test series 2023 alive.
The Aussies went down by just three wickets. But they have another two chances to seal the series in their favour. Mitch Marsh was in the playing XI because Cameron Green was injured ahead of the Leeds Test match.
Australia again didn’t get the best of the starts and they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Despite that, Mitchell Marsh played a brilliant knock to keep his team in the contest. His attacking approach had frustrated the home side in the 1st innings.
Marsh scored 118 runs from 118 deliveries and he was the only player from the Aussie batting lineup to go past fifty runs in that innings.
The skipper again tried to repeat the magic of the 2019 Headingley Test match. He scored a brilliant ton at Lords which went in vain.
But at Leeds, he again led his team from the front with the bat in hand. Skipper Stokes scored crucial 80 runs which allowed his team to get near the 1st innings score of the Australians.
The Australian skipper Pat Cummins tried his best of winning the series in Leeds in the 3rd Test match. But his batters didn’t muster enough runs in the 2nd innings which led them to lose this game by just 3 wickets.
Cummins picked up a six-wicket haul in the first innings which kept England to just 237 runs. Australia needed him to perform well with the bat as well as he did in 1st test match at Edgbaston.
The pace-bowling all-rounder, Chris Woakes replaced Josh Tongue in the side for the 3rd Test match at Leeds and England would ideally like to stick with the winning combination for the rest of the matches in the Ashes 2023 series.
Woakes played well in this test match. He picked up 3 wickets in the 1st innings and 3 wickets in the second innings. With the bat, it was Chris Woakes who had hit the winning run for England.