OTD | Steve Waugh scored a hundred and became the third player to surpass 10000 Test runs in his last Ashes Test in 2003

On this day in 2003, Steve Waugh smashed a terrific Test ton against England in the fifth Test of the Ashes and became only the third batter after Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border to score over 10000 runs in the game’s longest format. Along with Adam Gilchrist, he batted out the difficult phase and helped Australia gain a solitary run lead.

England batted first in Sydney and posted 362 runs. Mark Butcher starred with the bat in the first innings by scoring 124(275). He was assisted at the other end by skipper Nasser Hussain and WK batter Alec Stewart who scored 75 and 71 respectively. For Australia, Andy Bichel claimed 3 wickets, while Brett Lee and Stuart Macgill claimed 2 wickets each.

Australia in their first innings was reduced to 150/5. That was when Steve Waugh and Gilchrist smashed magnificent tons. While Waugh scored 102 runs in 135 balls, Gilchrist smashed a brisk 133(121). The duo did the carry job for Australia and helped the home side to post 363 runs on the board. In the process, Steve became just the third Test batter to cross the 10000-run mark in Tests.

Australia lost their way completely in the second innings. The visiting side posted 452/9 before declaring their innings in the second chance. Michael Vaughan starred with the bat by scoring 183(278). Skipper Hussain played a vital role with his 72(181) which powered England to a great second-innings total. Australia was asked to chase 454 runs.

The home side was never in the run chase as they lost wickets in regular intervals. Only Andy Bichel and Brett Lee gave a decent fight apart from Gilchrist. Australia was dismissed for just 226 runs in their second innings. Andy Caddick was the wrecker-in-chief who claimed 7/91 in his spell of 22 overs. England won the Test by 228 runs and Vaughan won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant second innings hundred.

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