Ashes 2023: Series Drawn 2-2, Australia Retain Ashes — Chris Woakes Player of Series, Stuart Broad Retires, Stokes vs Cummins

The 2023 Ashes series ended 2-2 across 5 Tests — Australia retained the Ashes as the holders, having reclaimed the urn in the 2021-22 series. Chris Woakes won the Compton-Miller Medal as Player of the Series (England). Stuart Broad announced his retirement after England won the 5th Test at The Oval — Australia's players gave him a guard of honour on the final morning. Ben Stokes captained England; Pat Cummins captained Australia. Venues: Edgbaston (1st), Lord's (2nd), Headingley (3rd), Old Trafford (4th), The Oval (5th).

Australia Retain the Ashes: The 2-2 Series Result and What It Meant

Australia retaining the Ashes with a 2-2 drawn series — without winning the series outright — followed the standard Ashes rule: the holder retains on a drawn series. Australia had reclaimed the Ashes in Australia in 2021-22 (winning 4-0) and defending them in England in 2023, meaning England's Bazball approach under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum — aggressive declarations, bowling teams out rather than batting defensively — pushed Australia to a 2-2 draw without England reclaiming the urn. Australia won the 1st Test at Edgbaston by 2 wickets — a Cummins-Starc 9th-wicket stand chasing under pressure — and the 2nd Test at Lord's by 43 runs in a match heavily influenced by the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping (Carey stumping Bairstow walking between overs, triggering a lengthy on-field and public controversy). England won Tests 3 (Headingley) and 5 (The Oval, by 49 runs), with the 4th Test at Old Trafford drawn. The 2-2 result confirmed Australia as Ashes holders despite England's aggressive and entertaining cricket across the series.

Stuart Broad's Farewell: 22 Wickets, Guard of Honour, and Retirement at The Oval

Stuart Broad taking 22 wickets across the 2023 Ashes — the most wickets of any England bowler in the series — then announcing his retirement on day 3 of the 5th Test at The Oval gave English cricket one of its most celebrated farewell moments: Broad, who had been dropped for the 2019 Ashes at Headingley (the Test where Ben Stokes' 135* came during Broad's absence), returning to form in 2020 and producing his 2023 Ashes as one of England's standout performers before retiring at 37 with 604 Test wickets — the most by any English bowler in history and second in the all-time Test wicket list among pace bowlers. Australia's players giving Broad a guard of honour when he came to bat on the final morning at The Oval — a gesture of respect between rivals in which the fielding side forms a corridor applauding the incoming batter — gave the 2023 Ashes its emotional closing image. Chris Woakes winning the Compton-Miller Medal (not Broad) confirmed that Woakes' all-round contributions across the series — bowling wickets and lower-order batting — gave England's best series individual award to Broad's teammate rather than the player whose farewell dominated the series narrative.

Ashes 2023 in Context

The Ashes 2023 — England hosting Australia, June-August 2023 — produced a 2-2 drawn series in which Australia retained the Ashes despite England's aggressive Bazball approach generating two Test wins and constant pressure. Woakes' Compton-Miller Medal, Broad's 22-wicket farewell, Cummins' Australia winning 2 Tests and drawing the series as holders, and the Bairstow stumping controversy gave the 2023 Ashes its multiple headlines. The series confirmed that England's McCullum-Stokes approach — unbeaten in home bilateral series before and after the 2023 Ashes — could challenge world-class opposition without consistently defeating them in a 5-Test bilateral where marginal moments (9th-wicket chases, stumpings, drawn Tests) decide the series outcome.