Andy Zaltzman: Why this year's men's Ashes is most closely-fought in history... so far!

Mark Wood was England's youngest wicket-taker astatine Headingley astatine the property of 33

In the much-hyped property of sporting overhype, it tin beryllium hard for contests to unrecorded up to their hyper-hyped expectations.

A cricket bid is uncommon successful the sporting beingness successful that it sets the aforesaid opponents against each different implicit a prolonged play and series of matches, a prime that makes these Ashes bid the much-see TV container acceptable epic of the summer.

The 3 men's Tests could each person been won by either side. The quality betwixt the teams aft archetypal innings has been little than 100 runs successful each 3 matches - 7 runs successful Birmingham, 91 astatine Lord's, 26 astatine Headingley.

In the past Ashes successful Australia, lone 1 of the 5 matches (Sydney) had a first-innings spread beneath 100. There were 3 specified matches successful 2019, but lone 5 successful 30 Tests successful the six bid earlier that (2009 to 2017-18).

There had lone been six Ashes Tests with a first-innings spread beneath 30 runs successful the past 20 Ashes bid combined, since 1985. The past clip we had 2 specified games successful a bid successful England (excluding rain-affected matches wherever archetypal innings were incomplete) was successful 1909.

In each 343 men's Ashes Tests played earlier this series, determination had been lone 25 matches won by margins of nether 50 runs oregon by 3 oregon less wickets, equating to astir 1 each 3 five-match bid (none of the 25 happened successful the 1960s oregon 1970s).

England got implicit the enactment successful different choky crippled astatine Headingley successful the 3rd Test

We person present had 3 successful succession, aft the astir melodramatic series of Ashes Tests since the second, 3rd and 4th Tests of the 2005 bid - wins for England by 2 runs astatine Edgbaston and 3 wickets astatine Trent Bridge, either broadside of Australia clinging connected for a gully with 9 wickets down astatine Old Trafford.

As cricket fans, we person been treated to the benignant of soul-enveloping communicative that lone Test bid tin create, enhanced by the striking quality successful attack of the 2 sides, which is revealed possibly astir strikingly successful the percent of deliveries from which each team's batters has scored runs.

In the archetypal 3 Tests, England person scored disconnected 38.4% of the balls they person faced (currently the 3rd highest specified fig successful a bid of 3 oregon much Tests), Australia conscionable 24.8%.

The 13.6% spread is presently the 4th biggest recorded - England's even-more-Bazballistic show successful Pakistan past December besides tops this array (43.7% to 25.4%) - and the biggest ever successful an Ashes series, by either side.

There is small quality betwixt the teams successful the frequence with which they deed boundaries - England 1 each 12.8 balls, Australia 1 each 13.9 - but England person been much proactive successful trying to support their people advancing, and Australia much cautious with the bat and much antiaircraft successful their field-placing.

Wary of England's scoring complaint and the mode they person batted successful the Stokesian era, Australia are posting much bound fielders, attempting to trim the fig of fours, but facilitating lower-risk accumulation of singles and twos.

England nether Stokes, different than erstwhile employing their bouncer tactics, thin to clasp much close-catching and single-preventing fielders, astatine the hazard of allowing much boundaries to beryllium hit.

In this series, some sides could reason their attack has been mostly vindicated.

Australia's much restrained strategy helped them into a 2-0 lead. They person taken wickets steadily successful each 3 Tests, preying connected England's addiction to risk.

But for the incandescent brilliance of Mark Wood successful their archetypal innings astatine Headingley, and the baffling carelessness of Labuschagne and Smith successful the second, they would astir apt beryllium 3-0 up.

England could person won each 3 Tests. Their capableness for hammering boundaries, which has discombobulated New Zealand, India and Pakistan successful the past year, made Australia instrumentality a strategical determination to be, mostly, passive and containing successful the field.

England's constrictive defeats astatine Edgbaston and Lord's swung connected errant fielding and a fewer captious moments. In their palmy run-chase astatine Leeds, from the 22nd implicit until winning successful the 50th, they did not let much than 4 dot balls successful a row, truthful adjacent portion wickets were falling regularly, they were moving person to the triumph people astatine a bully rate.

Old Trafford promises to beryllium different fascinating tussle. Wood's phenomenal velocity has fixed England a caller limb (all the champion long-form dramas present a large quality immoderate mode into the communicative - and sidesplitting disconnected Nathan Lyon truthful aboriginal successful the bid was positively Game-of-Thronesian).

Both sides person shown weaknesses that tin beryllium exploited, and strengths that could beryllium decisive. Cricket lovers astir the satellite volition beryllium eagerly acceptable to binge-watch the adjacent instalment.

Here's 10 much statistic for you to driblet into speech during immoderate occupation interviews, dates, commercialized negotiations, trials oregon parliamentary hearings you whitethorn person to be successful the adjacent mates of days:

STAT 1: Stuart Broad, present 2 wickets distant from becoming the 5th bowler to instrumentality 600 successful Tests, has taken astatine slightest 5 wickets successful each of the past 7 Tests helium has played - an unprecedented accomplishment by an England bowler. Prior to Broad's existent sequence, lone post-war large Alec Bedser had taken 5 oregon much successful six consecutive Tests for England.

STAT 2: All 20 Australian wickets astatine Headingley were taken by England bowlers aged 33 and implicit - the archetypal clip successful Test past that a squad has mislaid each 20 wickets to bowlers aged astatine slightest 33. In all, 36 of the 37 wickets successful the Test were taken by bowlers aged 30-plus (Todd Murphy's dismissal of Ben Stokes was the exception).

This is the joint-highest lucifer tally for 30-plus bowlers successful Test history, alongside the Adelaide Test of 1928-29, different classical Ashes Test with 4 adjacent innings - England made 334, Australia replied with 369, England scored 383 successful their 2nd innings, earlier bowling Australia retired for 336 to triumph by 12 runs.

STAT 3: Headingley was conscionable the 3rd Ashes Test successful which each 4 innings were successful the 200s, though the 39-run quality betwixt the highest and lowest innings was considerably much than the different two, some of which were Boxing Day Tests astatine the MCG. In 1974-75, the crippled finished drawn with Australia 238-8, 8 runs abbreviated of triumph aft England made 242 and 244, either broadside of Australia's archetypal innings 241.

The melodramatic 1982-83 MCG Test resulted successful a three-run England triumph - their 284 and 294 emerging victorious implicit Australia's 287 and 288.

STAT 4: After 3 Tests, determination person been nary scores implicit 420 oregon nether 220, the archetypal clip this has been the lawsuit aft 3 matches of an Ashes series.

STAT 5: Chris Woakes took England crossed the enactment with 32 not out. It was the 2nd clip helium has made a important fourth-innings publication to an England victory, pursuing his superb 84 not out, batting astatine seven, against Pakistan astatine Old Trafford successful 2020.

Only 1 different subordinate successful Test past has 2 scores of 30 oregon more, batting successful the little bid (number 7 downwards, for the purposes of this stat), successful victorious fourth-innings chases - England's Dominic Cork (39 not retired v New Zealand, Christchurch, 1996-97; and 33 not retired v West Indies, Lord's, 2000).

STAT 6: England's 254-7 successful 50 overs was the seventh palmy fourth-innings pursuit of 250 oregon much scored astatine much than 4.5 runs per over. Three of the erstwhile six were made by England past summer, successful consecutive Tests (against New Zealand astatine Trent Bridge and Headingley, and against India astatine Edgbaston).

STAT 7: It was lone the 3rd clip since 1955 that England person won a Test without astatine slightest 1 concern reaching 60.

STAT 8: Australia's lone productive batters astatine Leeds were Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, batting astatine 5 and six. Australia's 1 to 4 managed conscionable 139 runs successful the lucifer (their 2nd worst top-four lucifer full successful a Test successful England since 1981, counting matches successful which they person batted successful some innings).

Their numbers 7 to 11 scored conscionable 56, their 3rd worst specified full successful a Test successful England since 1961. The combined full of 195 by the apical 4 and bottommost 5 was Australia's 2nd worst successful a Test against England, successful either hemisphere, since 1912. Only their Broad-inspired 2015 Trent Bridge demolition was worse (184 successful total).

STAT 9: Leeds was the 2nd Ashes Test since 1997 not to see a 50 by a top-four subordinate connected either side.

STAT 10: Pat Cummins took 7-168 successful 33 overs successful the lucifer astatine Leeds, astatine 5.1 per over. It was the archetypal clip successful his 53-Test vocation that helium has conceded much than 4.2 per implicit successful a match.