Updated ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 Points table after England vs Australia 1st Test

Australia defeated England in the 1st Test of Ashes 2023 at Edgbaston, which marked the start of ICC World Test Championship 2023-25.

Australia defeated England in the first Test of the Ashes 2023 series which was played at the Edgbaston ground in Birmingham which began on June 16 and kicked off the new ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023-25) cycle as well.

The much-anticipated series between the two of the oldest rivals in Test cricket saw many ups and downs in an exciting Test match despite the criticism of the Edgbaston pitch for being flat and unhelpful for the bowlers.

England captain Ben Stokes had won the toss and chose to bat first. Opener Zak Crawley started well with a score of 61 and Ollie Pope made 31 runs. But the best knock came from Joe Root, who made 118* with 7 fours and 4 sixes.

Keeping in line with the ‘Bazball’ way of cricket, Jonny Bairstow hammered 78 in 78 balls with 12 fours as Ben Stokes surprisingly declared the innings at 393/8. Nathan Lyon picked 4/149 for Australia.

In reply, Usman Khawaja made 141 runs, while Travis Head made 50 and Alex Carey contributed 66 runs to Australia’s first-innings total of 386 runs. Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson picked three wickets each for England.

Pat Cummins stars with the ball and the bat in the second innings as Australia go 1-0 up in Ashes 2023

In the second innings, England went after the leather and posted 273 runs with Joe Root and Harry Brook making 46 runs each, while for Australia, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon picked four wickets apiece.

Chasing 281 runs to win, Khawaja gave a good start with 65, while the contribution from the middle order kept Australia in the hunt, despite rain interruption on day five. But in the end, Pat Cummins, the skipper stepped up and scored 44* with 4 fours and 2 sixes to take Australia home by 2 wickets in hand.

Australia won the match and went 1-0 up in the Ashes 2023 series.

Unfortunately, both Australia and England were found guilty of slow overrates and penalized by the ICC. Players from both teams were fined 40% of their match fees and the teams were docked two points each as well.

The sanctions see Australia lose two World Test Championship points, leaving Cummins' side with a total of 10 points after their first Test of the new cycle. England have been also deducted two points, meaning they are behind all eight of their rivals in the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle.

Here is the latest WTC 2023-25 points table: