Australia in Great Britain, 2013 (cricket)

Australia toured Great Britain in the 2013 cricket season and played a five-Test Ashes series against England. England won the series with three wins, the other two matches ending in draws. The team captains were Alistair Cook of England and Michael Clarke of Australia. England's outstanding players were their middle order batsman Ian Bell, who scored three centuries in the series, and their pace bowlers James Anderson and Chris Broad.

Test series summary

First Test

First Test, Trent Bridge, 10–14 July. Toss: England

England won by 14 runs (England 215 & 375, Australia 280 & 296)

England 1st innings 215: Trott 48; Siddle 5/50, Pattinson 3/69

Australia 1st innings 280: Agar 98, Hughes 81*, Smith 53; Anderson 5/85

England 2nd innings 375: Bell 109, Broad 65, Pietersen 64, Cook 50; Starc 3/81, Siddle 3/85

Australia 2nd innings 296 (target 311): Haddin 71, Rogers 52; Anderson 5/73 (10/158)

• Ashton Agar's 98 (on his debut for Australia) was the highest score by a number 11 batsman and his partnership with Phillip Hughes the highest 10th-wicket partnership (163) in test cricket. But both were dropped after performing poorly in the second test.

Second Test

Second Test, Lord's, 18–22 July. Toss: England

England won by 347 runs (England 361 & 349/7d, Australia 128 & 235)

England 1st innings 361: Bell 109, Bairstow 67, Trott 58; Harris 5/72, Smith 3/18

Australia 1st innings 128: Watson 30; Swann 5/44

England 2nd innings 349/7d: Root 180, Bell 74; Siddle 3/65

Australia 2nd innings 235 (target 583): Khawaja 54, Clarke 51; Swann 3/78

• Ian Bell became the fourth English batsman to score a century in three successive Ashes matches, after Hobbs, Hammond and Chris Broad (father of Stuart, who played in this match).
• A back stress fracture put Australian seam bowler James Pattinson out of the series.

Third Test

Third Test, Old Trafford, 1–5 August. Toss: Australia

Draw (Australia 527/7d & 172/7d, England 368 & 37/3)

Australia 1st innings 527/7d: Clarke 187, Smith 89, Rogers 84, Starc 66, Haddin 65*; Swann 5/159

England 1st innings 368: Pietersen 113, Cook 62, Bell 60; Siddle 4/63, Starc 3/76

Australia 2nd innings 172/7d: Warner 41; Bresnan 2/25, Anderson 2/37

England 2nd innings 37/3 (target 332): Root 13*; Harris 2/13

• Rain (at first, bad light) interrupted much of the last two days, helping England to retain the Ashes.

Fourth Test

Fourth Test, Chester-le-Street, 9–13 August. Toss: England

England won by 74 runs (England 238 & 330, Australia 270 & 224)

England 1st innings 238: Cook 51, Trott 49; Lyon 4/42

Australia 1st innings 270: Rogers 110, Watson 68; Broad 5/71

England 2nd innings 330: Bell 113; Harris 7/117, Lyon 3/55

Australia 2nd innings 224 (target 299): Warner 71; Broad 6/50 (11/121)

• Chris Rogers became the 2nd-oldest Australian to score a maiden test hundred (35 years 344 days).
• On 15 August, Tim Bresnan was ruled out of the rest of the season with a back stress fracture.

Fifth Test

Fifth Test, The Oval, 21–25 August. Toss: Australia

Draw (Australia 492/9d & 111/6d, England 377 & 206/5)

Australia 1st innings 492/9d: Watson 176, Smith 138*; Anderson 4/95

England 1st innings 377: Root 68, Pietersen 50; Faulkner 4/51

Australia 2nd innings 111/6d: Clarke 26*; Broad 4/43

England 2nd innings 206/5 (target 227): Pietersen 62, Trott 59; Harris 2/21, Faulkner 2/47

• The fourth day was lost to rain, and bad light ended the match on the fifth.

Bibliography

• Cricket Archive: 2013 tour summary. CricketArchive.
• Playfair: Playfair Cricket Annual 2014. Edited by Ian Marshall. Headline Books (2014).
• Booth, Lawrence (editor): England v Australia, 2013. Wisden Online (2014).