ENGvsAUS 1st Test: Why is Ashes 2005 in focus ahead of Day 5 thriller at Edgbaston?

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Ashes 2023 first Test between England and Australia has reached its climax and the visitors need 174 runs on final Day 5 with seven wickets in hand. Stuart Broad picked the crucial wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to shift the momentum in England's favour.

The ongoing series-opener has a spooky similarity with the Edgbaston Test which was played during the Ashes 2005. Notably, the ongoing Test is also being played at the same venue in Birmingham. Here are the similarities between the two Edgbaston Tests, 18 years apart.

• England batted first in the 2005 Edgbaston Test as well. Their approach was as aggressive as Ben Stokes's men who scored 124/3 in 26.4 overs at a strike rate of 4.70 in the first session. During the Ashes 2005 Edgbaston Test, England piled up 132-1 in 27 overs at a run rate of 4.89 at Lunch.

• England led by Michael Vaughan ended their day and innings at 407 all-out in 79.2 overs back then. Ashes 2023 Edgbaston Test saw England declare at 393/8 in 78 overs. The team's run rate was 5.03, very similar to the run rate of 5.13 on day one 18 years ago.

• Australia openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja scored 14 runs together before the Day 1 ended in the ongoing Test. This led to 407 runs scored on Day 1 of both the matches.

• Former Australia pacer Brett Lee leaked 111 runs at an economy rate of 6.52 in the first innings for Australia. In the Ashes 2023 Edbaston Test, Scott Boland leaked runs at an economy rate of 6.1 and picked one wicket.

• In the England vs Australia Edgbston Test 2005, England opener Marcus Trescothick scored 90 off 102, while Zak Crawley scored 61 off 73 18 years later. The strike rates of both the batters were in excess of 80 in the first innings. Trescothick and Crawley failed to make impact in the second innings.

• Ollie Robinson has been slammed for giving a fiery send-off to Khawaja. In his defence, Robinson reminded crictics of the time when Ricky Ponting used to sledge. Ponting indeed had sledged Andre Flintoff in the 2005 Edgbaston Test.

• The 2005 match saw Justin Langer bring up his 14th 50-plus score in his last 23 innings. Similarly, Usman Khawaja brought up his 14th fifty-plus score in his last 18 innings during the match. Their opening partners - Matthew Hayden and David Warner - failed to make any impact.

• The then number one ranked Test batter Ricky Ponting was dismissed for a duck in the second innings. Current Test number one ranked batter Marnus Labucshagne was dismissed for a duck in the first innings.

• England pacer Stuart Broad managed to grab two of the first three wickets in Australia’s second innings. Likewise, Andrew Flintoff had picked up two of the first three wickets during Australia's second innings.

• Australia were set a 282-run target in the Ashes 2005 Edgbaston Test. In the ongoing Test, Australia have been assigned the task of chasing 281.

• Australia needed 104 runs to win the match back in 2005. This time around, they would be needing 174 runs

England had registered a 2-wicket in the thrilling encounter 18 years ago. The course of action on Tuesday will confirm if this also gets added to the similarity list.