Was it ever in doubt? Did people really think Stuart Broad would sail off into the sunset quietly? Not a chance. On a raucous final day of what has been an otherworldly series by way of incident there was always likely to be one last iconic moment from a cricketer forged in the white heat of the Ashes.
Rain in Manchester may have put paid to England’s hopes of regaining the urn under Ben Stokes. But as Broad wheeled away, his removal of Alex Carey caught behind sealing a 49‑run victory and a 2-2 series draw, it was hard not to ponder the question famously put to Ian Botham all those years ago: who writes your scripts?
Because this was vintage, fairytale stuff, Broad haring in from the Pavilion End at the Oval, bandana flowing and the roar of 25,000 onlookers behind him, before teasing the edge that finally ended Australia’s hopes of overhauling a record run chase. Apparently hitting his last ball as a Test batsman for six on day four wasn’t going to cut it.
And so the final tally for Broad sits at 604 Test wickets, No 603 secured moments earlier when, after another cheeky flip of the bails, Todd Murphy went the same way. Australia were bowled out for 334 in 94.4 overs by 6.25pm, the tourists thwarted in their pursuit of 384 to claim a first series win in England since Steve Waugh’s class of 2001.
Instead, Pat Cummins and his players will have to be content with their lot which, in fairness, is none too shabby. They will fly home in the coming days having won the World Test Championship and with the Ashes urn secured until 2025‑26. But, like England, they will be left with a bittersweet sense of what might have been this summer, that 2-0 lead neutralised in the end by a longtime thorn in their side.
Although to put it all on Broad would be misleading. This was a remarkable end to a Test career, no question, but really an England victory built on the exploits of two of the more understated players in their ranks.
Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali shared seven wickets on the day to send a promising run chase down the gurgler. Australia were right in the hunt here, no question. They had reached 264 for three, 120 runs away with 40 overs of the day remaining. Rain had wiped out two hours of play after lunch but Steve Smith and Travis Head put on 95 for the fourth wicket either side of it, the former having just reached his half-century and looking in ominous touch.
But in the space of 19 balls a series of wild pendulum swings produced yet another, Moeen and Woakes gutting the Australian middle order to the tune of four wickets and doubtless swelling a good few hearts with pride back in Birmingham. In the case of Moeen, set to return to Test retirement, this was a final reminder of his qualities.
No English spinner has taken more fourth‑innings wickets than Moeen’s 63, while a strike-rate of 40 is topped only by South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada among those with more than 50. Bowling in spite of a groin injury, his was the strike that lit the fuse on Australia’s collapse as Head drove out of the rough on 43 and edged to slip.
Woakes was in a rich groove at the other end, buoyed by the removals of David Warner and Usman Khawaja in the morning and refreshed by the rain break. And it was the cricketer teammates call “Wizard” who conjured the most prized wicket of all, Smith squared up by a ball that nipped away and flew to Zak Crawley at second slip.
The next man to fall was Mitch Marsh, undone by a touch of extra bounce from Moeen, an edge that ballooned off his armpit and a superb reflex catch by Jonny Bairstow.
And when Mitchell Starc edged Woakes into the cordon for a duck, soon followed by Moeen’s removal of Cummins, the stage was set for Broad’s late coup de grâce.
All of this was sweet relief for Stokes, thoughts of a 3-1 series defeat brewing after a potentially pivotal moment before lunch. Australia were 237 for three – rebuilding after Mark Wood’s removal of Marnus Labuschagne – and a catch popped up off Smith’s glove on 39 as he pressed forward to defend Moeen.
Stokes leapt to take it above his head but then brushed his knee with the same hand as he came back to earth, the ball popping out. Think Herschelle Gibbs “dropping the World Cup” back in 1999, albeit Stokes steadying himself as much as celebrating. Either way the upshot was the same and Smith looked ripe to make it pay.
It also brought to an end a morning that, as well as 103 runs and three wickets, featured a good deal of off-field chuntering. This surrounded a replacement ball chosen late on day four when the original hit Khawaja’s helmet and apparently split.
Under the laws, the condition of the replacement ball must be “comparable” to the first one. But England had been allowing the original scuff up for reverse swing, and this new one – chosen by the umpires, it should be stressed – appeared shinier in the TV close-ups. It was certainly doing more than the day before.
But then this has been an Ashes series riddled with talking points, controversy and accusations of whingeing, never more so than after Australia went 2-0 up at Lord’s and that much-debated stumping of Bairstow by Carey. The lesson after that one was to follow the laws, respect the decision of umpires and crack on.
It would be wrong to say it was fitting that Carey should be the last man to fall, the Australian having done nothing wrong that day. Still, the fact it was would not have been lost on Bairstow as he safely pouched the catch that won the match, levelled the series and handed Broad his remarkable fairytale finish.
