LONDON: Game-changing spells by England’s Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali denied Australia their first Ashes win in away from home since 2001 and Stuart Broad scripted a fairytale finish to his career by taking the final two wickets, defeating the visitors by 49 runs in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on Monday.
With this, England has drawn the series 2-2. Australia has retained the Ashes urn, but they have not won it outright, something that they have not done since 2001 in England.
After the second session was washed out due to rain, Australia started the final session of the day at 238/3 with Steve Smith (40) and Travis Head (31) standing unbeaten at the crease, needing 146 runs to win.
Smith and Head continued to build pressure on England bowlers, with the visitors needing less than 150 runs to win.
With help of a cracking boundary by Travis Head, Australia crossed the 250-run mark in 69 overs, needing 131 runs to win.
Smith reached his half-century in 89 balls.
The 95-run stand between Smith and Head was broken by Moeen Ali, when Head edged his delivery into the slips to Joe Root. The big wicket of Head was taken for 43 runs off 70 balls. Australia’s half of side was back in the hut at 264 runs, needing 120 runs to win.
England made a comeback in the match, with Chris Woakes getting the prized wicket of Smith, who nicked the ball straight into the hands of Zak Crawley for 54. Later, Moeen dismissed the dangerous Mitchell Marsh for just six after being caught behind by Jonny Bairstow. Woakes then in the next over got Mitchell Starc for a two-ball duck.
The tides turned in favour of England, who had reduced Australia to 275/7 with 109 runs to go.
Moeen’s golden arm continued to do wonders for England, as skipper Pat Cummins was caught by England captain Ben Stokes at leg slip for nine. Australia was 294/8 and needed 90 runs with two more wickets left.
Australia reached the 300-run mark in 83.2 overs.
Alex Carey and Todd Murphy continued the run chase, bringing down the equation to 55 runs to win.
But Stuart Broad helped England get back in the game, dismissing Murphy for 18 after he edged the ball to Bairstow. With this, England was one wicket away from drawing the series. Carey was Australia’s last hope.
Broad completed a fairytale finish to his career, taking his final wicket, dismissing Carey for 28 after he was caught by Bairstow. Australia was all out for 334 runs, losing by 49 runs.
Chris Woakes (4/50), Moeen Ali (3/76) were the pick of the bowlers for England. Stuart Broad took two wickets and Mark Wood got one wicket.
Earlier, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood provided the early breakthrough on Day 5 of the ongoing fifth Ashes Test to help England stage a fine comeback against Australia here at Kennington Oval on Monday.
At Lunch, Australia’s score read 238/3 with Steve Smith (40) and Travis Head (31) standing unbeaten at the crease, needing 146 runs to win.
In the 41st over of Australia’s innings, Chris Woakes made Warner dance on his tune as the batter managed to get some bat on an inswinger before it hits his pads.
But the very next ball the seamer removed Australia opener Warner as the batter’s slight edge was carried by wicketkeeper Bairstow to gratefully snaffle. Warner’s innings in England ends on 60 and it was the breakthrough the hosts desperately needed.
The right-handed batter Marnus Labuschagne then came out to bat. A couple of overs later, Woakes in red-hot form gave visitors another blow as he delivered a swing-back ball in at left-hander Khawaja and struck him on the stumps.
The batter decided to take a review, with three red dots shown on the crease indicating Khawaja to go back in the pavilion.
Woakes did the damage in the morning, bowling beautifully to dismiss David Warner caught behind and Usman Khawaja lbw, sending both Aussie openers went back into the pavilion.
Australia was in a bit of bother early on the fifth day, but got still plenty of batting to come. Steve Smith then came out to bat for Australia and the batter got off to the mark from the final delivery as it raced away for four off the outside edge.
In the 49th over, Mark Wood found the edge of Labuschagne’s bat and it was carried enough for Zak Crawley to take the catch in the slips, leaving Australia struggling at 169/3.
Travis Head then came out to bat for Australia. The direction continued to shift as Smith slammed two boundaries in James Anderson’s over.
Smith went on the attack in the first session and Head gave him able support. Head took a liking to some of Anderson’s bowling and found boundaries off veteran England pacer as he drove the ball through mid-on, then pushed through the covers for four on the next delivery.
Anderson managed to keep things tight for the remaining four balls of the 56th over, but Australia crossed the 200-run mark, needing 178 more runs to win.
The partnership of Smith and Head brought Australia back into the game after early blows. The Smith-Head partnership passed the 50-run mark as the lunch breaks get closer.
At the end of the first session of the fifth day, Australia’s score read 238/3 with Steve Smith (40) and Travis Head (31) standing unbeaten at the crease.
Australia started the final day of the match at 135/0, with Usman Khawaja (69*) and David Warner (58*) unbeaten during a run-chase of 384 runs.
In their second innings, England was all out for 395 runs and they gained a lead of 383 runs over Australia, setting them 384 to win.
Zak Crawley (73 in 76 balls, with nine fours) and Ben Duckett (42 in 55 balls) stitched a solid 79-run opening stand. Crawley had a 61-run stand for the second wicket with skipper Ben Stokes (42 in 67 balls, with three fours and a six). Later, Stokes had a 73-run stand for the third wicket with Joe Root. After Stokes’ departure, Harry Brook was also dismissed quickly, leaving England at 222/4.
Then it was Root and Jonny Bairstow who had a fifth-wicket partnership of 110 runs. Root was dismissed for 91 off 106 balls, with 11 fours and a six and Bairstow was later dismissed for 78 in 103 balls, with 11 fours, leaving England at 360/6. A useful 29 by Mooen Ali in his final Test innings proved to be vital in taking England to 395.
Mitchell Starc (4/100) and Todd Murphy (4/110) were the top bowlers for Australia.
In their first innings, Australia was bundled out for 295 runs and they had a 12-run lead. They lost wickets at regular intervals. At the top of the order, Steve Smith (71 in 123 balls, with six fours) and Usman Khawaja (47 in 157 balls with seven fours) delivered key contributions which kept Australia’s innings together.
Down the order, skipper Pat Cummins (36) and an aggressive Todd Murphy (34 in 39 balls with two fours and three sixes) helped the Aussies gain the lead, putting on a 49-run stand. Smith and Cummins had also put on a 54-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Chris Woakes (3/61) emerged as the pick of the bowlers for England, while Root, Wood and Broad took two wickets each. James Anderson got one wicket.
In their first innings, England was bundled out for 283 runs after being put to bat first by Australia. Harry Brook (85 in 91 balls with 11 fours and two sixes) top-scored for England and had a 111-run stand with Moeen Ali (34 in 37 balls with three fours and two sixes) after England slipped to 73/3.
Later a 49-run stand for the eighth wicket between Mark Wood (28) and Chris Woakes (36) helped England reach a decent first-innings score.
Mitchell Starc (4/82) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Josh Hazlewood and Todd Murphy took two wickets each while skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh got a wicket each.
Brief Scores: England: 283 and 395 (Joe Root 91, Jonny Bairstow 78, Mitchell Starc 4/100) vs Australia: 295 and 334 (Usman Khawaja 72, David Warner 60, Chris Woakes 4/50). (ANI)