Sometimes in life, you get away with one. You glance away then look back just in time to hit the brake. You double-check the recipient field before texting the wrong person about what a prat they are. You snag a few fingers in the back of a jumper when a toddler has materialised on the edge of the kitchen bench. You make a stunning catch when a loan shark launches your mother’s Fabergé egg off the back of a truck.
It’s not because you deserve it. It’s just the way things happen sometimes, a counterpart to all the times they don’t. At Manchester in 2013, Australia had England 37 for three on the last day, having declared overnight with 332 to protect, the list of dismissals reading Cook, Trott, Pietersen. The ball was doing all sorts, Ryan Harris was on one. Then it rained and England retained the Ashes by virtue of having won the first two Tests.
This was, by general agreement, an anticlimactic way to secure the trophy. Just the way the game goes, reward for a team that had already secured a lead. Anticipating the back-to-back return Ashes scheduled to follow in 2013-14, when the Manchester abandonment was announced deep into the afternoon, the crowd chant that to that point in the series had been “We’re gonna win 10-0” immediately became “We’re gonna win 9-0.”
Live long enough and the wheel has a way of turning. Jonny Bairstow was there a decade ago, as were Joe Root, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson. Now it is Australia retaining the urn with a washout from miles behind in the game. England supporters will feel aggrieved, a sense of injustice that is entirely understandable. That’s how the draw can feel. It is frustrating to have a possibility ended before it can be realised. Any gardener looking at a failed seedling knows.
Beyond the partisan view, though, what has more broadly been lost is the chance for something truly rare. Six times in Test cricket’s 146 years has a five-match series been all square heading into the final fixture. Two were in the 19th century, the most recent was India against Australia in 1978. With only three countries still playing long series, the next occasion might be decades away. A true ding-dong bout in the fifth Test at the Oval has had its number of bells and whistles whittled down.
Even rarer would have been the result had England finished the job. All of those six previous series involved one team losing the first two Tests and then fighting back to square. Only once did the comeback team seal three wins on the trot – Don Bradman’s lot in 1936‑37. This year, England were the team with the wind in their sails, having freight-trained through the first three days at Old Trafford after narrowly avoiding derailment at Headingley.
This will be Australia’s greatest point of satisfaction. They have stopped that momentum, even if most of the help came from above. Whether their thanks travel in the same direction will depend on the beliefs of the individual. “The penitent man kneels before God,” mutters Indiana Jones and the Australians were on their knees this week but heard a swish pass above their heads.
They were not entirely hostage to fortune: their first innings was insufficient, but it did take a day and more out of the match by way of five substantial partnerships. Then in their second innings, after a battering by way of England’s scoring rate, falling over cheaply was a real possibility, especially against Mark Wood with his tail up and a crowd behind him. Usman Khawaja and David Warner took out the early sting, Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh gummed up the works after four wickets fell and a scoreline disaster was averted.
Now it is a matter of recomposing rather than decomposing, working out how to get their equilibrium back with only three days until the series decider. The trophy may be secured but a 2-2 scoreline is still in the offing and Australia still desperately want to win this series outright. Going from 2-0 to a draw would mean they go home bruised, feeling more like a loss. England meanwhile want to prove that they have matched their visitors. There will be all to play for within the teams, even if audience interest is slightly dialled down.
Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, kept the emotions low key after the match was called off, especially compared with the celebrations when Australia retained the Ashes at the same venue in 2019 with a win. “The result is the same as then but the feeling is different,” he said. No doubt. But he also stressed the importance of the Oval result and how much his team want to rebound and finish the job there.
They can now do that without worrying about losing the urn – not just because of the weather, but because of the way they started the series. It is, if we can slightly misinterpret the phrase, the luck of the draw.
