Last Updated: July 31, 2023, 23:20 IST
London, United Kingdom (UK)
Stuart Broad clebrateswith his England teammates (AP)
England beat Australia by 49 runs to win the fifth Test at The Oval and draw the Ashes series 2-2.
England defeated Australia by 49 runs in the fifth and final Ashes test at The Oval on Monday, to draw the series 2-2 series draw.
Australia had already retained the coveted urn but narrowly missed out on claiming their first Ashes series win in England since 2001.
They won the first two tests but lost the third and had looked set to lose the fourth until two days of almost uninterrupted rain led to a draw.
The fifth test was finely poised going into the final afternoon, with Australia batting their way steadily past 250 as they chased a huge target of 384.
But after a lengthy rain delay England’s bowlers came out and took the remaining seven wickets to claim the win. Australia, chasing 384 to win, collapsed from 264-3 to 334 all out, with England’s retiring paceman Stuart Broad taking the final wicket.
England did the bulk of the damage when, after a rain break of more than two hours, they took four Australia wickets for 11 runs in 19 balls.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali took three wickets on his way to innings figures of 3-76 and all-rounder Chris Woakes ended with 4-50.
It was Broad who finished off the tourists, removing Todd Murphy and Alex Carey to take his career tally of wickets to 604 — fourth on the all-time list. The 37-year-old pacer announced Saturday he would be retiring after this test and he got a perfect ending.
Australia started the day on 135-0 and England finally found some seam movement and swing in cloudy conditions with a new ball, accounting for David Warner (60), Usman Khawaja (72) — both to Chris Woakes — and Marnus Labuschagne (13) in an 11-over spell in which the tourists hit just 34 runs.
A 95-run stand between Steve Smith and Travis Head either side of the rain delay steadied the innings, and even put Australia as the marginal favorite. In a dramatic incident, England’s players thought they had got Smith in the final over of the morning session but captain Ben Stokes, who took a fine, leaping, one-handed catch off the batter’s glove, lost control of the ball as he brought his arm down and brushed his thigh. He was adjudged to have dropped the ball before having complete control.
Yet Woakes and spinner Moeen Ali roared back after the resumption, which came at 4.20 p.m. local time and gave England 47 overs to capture victory under what had quickly become a sunny sky in south London. They didn’t need them all.
Head sliced Ali on the drive to Joe Root at slip for for 43, Smith — having just got to his 25th fifty against England — edged Woakes to Zak Crawley at second slip for 54, and Mitch Marsh drew a stunning diving catch from wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow after an inside edge onto his pad off Ali.
England claimed a fourth wicket in 19 deliveries when Mitchell Starc edged Woakes to Crawley, again demonstrating safe hands, for a second-ball duck and Cummins (9) was the next to depart, top-edging Ali onto his pad and to Stokes coming round from leg-slip.
Stokes, mindful of his botched catch earlier in the day, held onto the ball with a broad grin on his face.
Then it was left to Broad, knees pumping in a scene familiar to many, to clean up the tail and he walked off the ground to a standing ovation and with a stump in his hand.
Australia will see this as a big opportunity squandered after taking a 2-0 lead following wins in the first two tests. As for the English, they will rue the rain that denied them a likely victory in the fourth test at Old Trafford — and therefore a chance at completing a series win at The Oval
(With inputs from Agencies)
