Once more with feeling. Of course, it had to come down to this. Another dramatic session, another bright streak of energy fizzing end to end through an afternoon. Another hour of insides squirming and crawling into knots, a prickle in fingertips and a jiggle in knees. Australia and England, the fifth afternoon of the fifth Test, runs ticking down as wickets crashed, another of those finishes, the possible and the impossible blurring in and out of focus.
After the half-formed belting at Manchester, a fourth-Test disaster for Australia averted by rain, some supporters piled in. Others were ready if a loss followed at the Oval. Some will go right ahead. But while there will be deep disappointment at the middle-order slide when the match was really lost, it would be bitter to be resentful after the brave last stand assembled by Alex Carey and Todd Murphy, reviving the chance of another miracle as Australians hoped and the English fretted.
One is the wicketkeeper who defines decency in this side, maligned up and down England for having offended a particular sensibility. The other is the bespectacled young off-spinner practising the most bespectacled of arts, replacing a champion and acquitting himself with remarkable cool in the hottest of sporting temperatures. Between them their 35 runs brought a lost match back into the realms of the plausible, before probability brought its iron finality to bear.
The Association of Cricket Statisticians defines a “close” Test as a margin of fewer than three wickets or fewer than 50 runs. The margins this series were two wickets, 43 runs, three wickets, and 49 runs. It has been an unprecedented collection of close‑run things. Experiences such as this are the reason that we invest in sport. Here comes the payoff.
For those who want to weigh the teams and award superiority, that partnership could have changed it all. Another lower-order rally like the one at Edgbaston, and a 3-1 win would have had people speaking about Australia holding their nerve, proving the superiority of old‑fashioned cricket in wearing down the opposition. The tied result should prompt a truer response about the lack of distance between the teams.
Australia should feel disappointment keenly: ending up level after being 2-0 ahead can only be described as having blown a lead, giving up the best possible chance to win a series in England. They had the home team 142 for seven in the third Test in Leeds, eyeing a big first-innings advantage, before coughing up that position and the match.
The batting did build partnerships but never went large enough in any innings since. Chasing 384 at the Oval was unlikely, but at 135 without loss overnight it became attainable. Needing 120 with seven wickets in hand, it should have been done. But Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad had their dusting of last-day glitter. Australia ended up all out for 334, that score that Don Bradman made on his own. They did used to say he was worth a team.
For all of the complaints from supporters that Australia never batted in the sunshine, it didn’t help them when that changed, Helios beaming down on the final afternoon as a collapse of three for 10 became four for 11, then five for 30, in a streak that cost the match. Likewise the replacement ball that the umpires doled out after 33 overs on the fourth day, in such fine shape that England were still using it late on the fifth day after 104 overs, will be a source of annoyance, but cricket does throw up irregularities and a winning team would have dealt with that. Nor did a swinging ball produce the three wickets against spin.
For all of that, Australia put themselves in a position to retain the Ashes despite being wrestled to the mat in the back half of the series. It is hard to claim that the better team lost the first two Tests, after being batted out of the game during Australia’s nerveless final session at Edgbaston, and bowled out of the game during England’s daft session at Lord’s.
Usman Khawaja was the serene centre of resistance, and the man whose contributions were most missed on the rare occasions he was out early. He faced 1,263 balls in the series, a tally bettered only 40 times in Tests. Travis Head still gets tagged as an underachiever despite never ending a match with a lower score than the 43 he made on this final day. His dismissal came looking to score against width, not anticipating perfect drift and turn away. The collapse followed, but Head had brought his team close enough to deserve better.
Mitchell Starc gets the same treatment, still talked about like an erratic youth despite being a senior player at the top of his craft. His bowling strike rate was the third‑fastest in an Ashes series, and he was deservedly named Australia’s best player. It was a trophy he accepted without fanfare, just as his teammates did the Ashes replica: the presentation after a lost match was entirely understated, the smiles for photos somewhat forced. After all of that effort, the score is once again 2-2, and most of this Australian team will not get another chance to fulfil a hunger that will sometimes still gnaw.
