Pat Cummins led Australia to a two-wicket victory in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
The Australia captain held his nerve in a heart-pounding chase that left Ben Stokes and his England team distraught.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at other close finishes in Test history.
West Indies beat Australia by one run – Adelaide, January 1993
Curtly Ambrose inspired the all-conquering Windies to victory on Australia Day. The hosts rallied from 74 for seven, chasing 186, but Ambrose had the final say, finishing with a 10-wicket match haul when he debatably flicked the glove of last man Craig McDermott with Australia needing just two to seal a series win.
England beat Australia by two runs – Edgbaston, August 2005
“Jones…Bowden…Kasprowicz the man to go, and Harmison has done it.” Richie Benaud welcomed a legion of new cricket followers in arguably the greatest Test in the greatest series of all. Australia had recovered from being seven wickets down with plenty to get to set up a grandstand finish. But Michael Kasprowicz fended a Steve Harmison bouncer to Geraint Jones and umpire Billy Bowden raised his crooked finger in a thrilling climax. Almost lost amid the frenzied finish is the fact Kasprowicz should not have been given out as the ball brushed the glove with his hand off the bat. Now, it is regarded as a mere subplot in the narrowest win – in terms of runs – in Ashes history.
England beat Australia by one wicket – Headingley, August 2019
A matter of weeks after his World Cup final heroics against New Zealand at Lord’s, Ben Stokes produced what may gone down as his magnum opus with an unbeaten 135 which helped England reel in 359 to complete their highest ever run-chase in Tests. An unbroken 76-run stand with last man Jack Leach, who resisted Australia for 17 balls in his one not out, had its fair share of drama but England completed a scarcely-believable victory. Australia, though, retained the urn after a 2-2 series draw.
West Indies beat Australia by one wicket – Barbados, March 1999
While the Windies dynasty was crumbling all around them with Australia by now the dominant force in world cricket, Brian Lara rolled back the years with one of his finest innings. Set 308, the Windies lurched to 105 for five but Lara was able to withstand the dual threat of Glenn McGrath, who claimed a five-for, and Shane Warne, wicketless in the fourth innings. Lara’s 153 not out got the Windies over the line after number 11 Courtney Walsh was able to keep out five balls. The series finished 2-2.
Sri Lanka beat South Africa by one wicket – Durban, February 2019
With Sri Lanka a fading force after the retirement of several all-time greats in the previous decade, there was only one favourite for this series. And when Sri Lanka slid to 226 for nine in pursuit of 304, that notion was reinforced. But Kusal Perera’s unbeaten 153 helped Sri Lanka to an incredible, against-all-odds victory. His unbroken 78-run partnership with Vishwa Fernando went down as the highest last-wicket stand in a successful fourth-innings chase in first-class cricket. Sri Lanka went on to triumph in Port Elizabeth to become the first Asian side to win a Test series in South Africa.
New Zealand beat England by one run – Wellington, February 2023
England were downed by one run in Wellington as New Zealand became just the fourth side ever to win a game after following on. Last man James Anderson, who had never hit the winning runs in 179 appearances, was one swing of the bat away from sealing an unforgettable result for his side but when he was caught down the leg side from the faintest of edges off Neil Wagner, a thrilling contest came to a crushing conclusion for the tourists – bowled out for 256 pursuing a target of 258.
Chase outdone by opposite number Paudel as West Indies A suffer four-wicket loss to Nepal
West Indies A’s tour of Nepal got off to an unfortunate start, after they suffered a four-wicket loss to their host in a high scoring opening fixture of their five-match Twenty20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.
Set a formidable 204 by West Indies A, Nepal’s thrilling victory, which was set up by a captain’s knock from Rohit Paudel, etched their names in the history books, as they successfully got to their target at 206-6 with two balls to spare.
Paudel smashed a 54-ball 112, including 10 fours and two sixes to see his team to a 1-0 lead in the series, which West Indies Head coach Darren Sammy said offers his team a chance to define roles and personnel more clearly for their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.
However, the Caribbean side’s all-round effort was found wanting, as only captain Roston Chase (74), Alick Athanaze (47) and Keacy Carty (38) offered any resistance with the bat, while only Obed McCoy (2-34) and Matthew Forde (2-49) had some semblance of success with the ball.
Scores: West Indies A 204-5 (20 overs); Nepal 206-6 (19.4 overs)
Asked to take first strike, after losing the toss, West Indies A suffered an early blow, as they lost Johnson Charles (zero) off the last ball of the opening over, with 16 runs on the board. Andre Fletcher (13) stuck two sixes off five balls, before he too departed via the run-out route, leaving West Indies A at 43-2 in the fourth over.
However, Athanaze went about business, striking three sixes and five fours in a 25-ball knock, as he put on 43 for the third wicket with Chase, prior to his demise. From there, Chase and Carty added another 60 runs in a fourth-wicket stand that defined the innings.
Carty’s 38 off 26 balls, included two fours and three sixes, while Chase, who anchored the innings with a captain’s knock, struck nine fours and two sixes in his 46-ball 74. Kadeem Alleyne, on 14, and Keemo Paul, one, were left not out.
No Nepal bowler took more than one wicket.
With runs on the board, West Indies A would have felt confident of wrapping up a win, even more so, after Forde and McCoy combined to remove openers Anil Sah (five) and Kushal Bhurtel (16) to have Nepal at 38-2 in the fifth over.
West Indies remained in the ascendancy when Fletcher and Charles combined to run out Kushal Malla (16), leaving their host on the ropes at 82-3 at the halfway mark.
However, Paudel showed class, in not only reviving his team’s innings, but pushed them all the way with some aggressive stroke play, assisted by wayward bowling from West Indies A attack at times. Dipendra Singh Airee (24) offered support to his captain in getting Nepal across the line for a famous victory.
Bairstow hails 'ballistic' Kings after record IPL run chase
Jonny Bairstow saluted "ballistic" Punjab Kings following their historic Indian Premier League victory over Kolkata Knight Riders.
The England batter scored an unbeaten century as the Kings successfully chased down 262 - the highest in T20 history - with eight balls to spare at Eden Gardens.
Bairstow hit a wonderful 108 not out from 48 balls - with nine sixes along the way - while Shashank Singh chipped in with 68 from 28 deliveries as the Kings ended their four-game losing streak.
"We knew that we had to go ballistic after how they batted," said the 34-year-old, who made his second IPL century five years after his first. "We had to take risks, and thankfully they came off.
"I've never been faced with a target like that before. So, we knew the powerplay would be important, and if anything is close to being in your area, you've got to make the most of it."
The performances of Bairstow and Singh contributed towards further history, with the overall tally of 42 sixes the highest recorded in a single T20 match.
"Cricket has turned to baseball, hasn't it?!" Punjab skipper Sam Curran added. "Guys can hit balls for long periods of time, the coaches, training, the dew, dot balls become wide after reviews and you get the extra ball. Stats are going of the window."
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer was left disappointed to see his side's impressive haul overturned, but urged his team-mates to learn from the experience.
"Both teams played tremendously. You have to go back to the drawing board and see where you went wrong," he said. "Not defending hurts, but it's a great lesson for the players."
Mottley renews call for Windies women to be treated equally to male counterparts
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has once again encouraged Cricket West Indies (CWI) to invest and reward the region’s female cricketers in the same manner as the men.
Mottley, who first made the call last year, used the platform on Thursday’s opening day of the CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, to once again lobby for more attention to be paid to women’s cricket.
“It is the young people and I’m happy that finally it is not just boys, but boys and girls who will become the men and women who can become these global citizens with Caribbean roots. My heart filled with pride this week when Hayley Matthews was heralded by Wisden as the T20 Cricketer of the Year, and it did so because Mr. President, when you and I first met when you took over, it was actually International Women’s Day, March 8, and I asked you then to start the journey of removing the discriminatory practices between men and women,” Mottley said at the event in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Practices that go as far as the quality of the coverage and the camera covering the game, meaning that it becomes less alluring to those who may not be fully engaged purely because when you look at IPL and you look at the women playing cricket in many other jurisdictions it just doesn’t even look the same. That cannot be a metaphor for our own development and the fact and the obligation of removing the discrimination that exists between men and women’s cricket is absolutely critical,” she added.
Mottley declared her belief that the time was right for a historic mixed-gender cricket game to be played in the region.
“I have said to you, and I offer you now publicly again, that Kensington Oval, that iconic ground, could be a location where we break new ground again in history by having a mixed-gender game, recognizing that in the Olympics you’re going to soon have mixed gender relays and we don’t need to wait on others to lead us, but we can resume the leadership in ensuring that as the game has evolved from Test, to 50-over, to T20, to the increase in women’s cricket, that ultimately that will soon be the next step,” she shared.
On that note, the Prime Minister, pointed out that it was also important that opportunities be created for not only male and female cricketers, but for persons who have skills in other areas.
“We have an obligation to be able to level the field by the investments that we have to make in this sport, recognizing that not all may make the team and wear that maroon, but all can participate at different levels to make a living," Mottley noted.
“Whether it is exporting persons to help in coaching across the world…whether it is through the ability of us to have as many of our youngsters play. Whether it is in the creation of the supply of world class and first-class umpires, whether it is in people who are in the business of keeping the field, the outfield and the pitches in good form, or in the ability to sell pitches to the United States of America instead of them buying from Australia. Whatever it is, we must plan now the careful investment that will allow us to see this as a viable productive and economic sector," she ended.
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