Ashes battle ends 2-2 once again as Broad exits in style

Australia's dream of winning an Ashes series on England's turf will have to wait another four years after a dramatic final session on another rain-soaked day of the final Test at The Oval saw the home team complete a stunning comeback to win by 49 runs.

While the Ashes remain in their possession for the fourth consecutive series with the teams deadlocked with two Test wins apiece, Australia will feel they missed a golden chance to become the first to win the urn outright away from home since Steve Waugh's men in 2001 after securing the first two Tests of this campaign.

But given the scale and the character of England's comeback that might easily have seen them win the series but for two days of unceasing rain that ruined the fourth Test at Old Trafford, a tied finish might ultimately represent the rightful outcome.

The daunting target set for a final day victory was always going to take an heroic innings or two and, while a number of Australia's top order made solid contributions nobody was able to make the required big score in the face of a couple of inspiring spells from player of the series Chris Woakes (4-50).

In defiance of the trusted adage 'there's no fairytales in sport', Stuart Broad crowned his farewell to cricket by capturing Australia's final two wickets before the visitors took possession of the replica Ashes urn that will return with them to Australia ahead of the next battle in 2025-26.

On another day of dramatic developments, Australia's assignment of a further 249 runs with 10 wickets in hand when the final day began proved a bridge too far, despite hopes being raised as Steve Smith and Travis Head fashioned a brisk 95-run stand for the fourth wicket.

But as has been the case so often in this campaign, a combination of England's dreary summer and their irrepressible cricket conspired to wrest back the initiative every time Australia looked capable of creating history by reeling in the 384 needed to secure the largest successful fourth-innings run chase at The Oval.

Initially upon resumption under thick clouds and facing a ball that seemed suspiciously dissimilar to the one replaced late on day four, Australia stumbled due to the loss of three quick wickets as England's swing king Woakes wrought havoc.

Then, after Smith and Head's progress was stymied by another lengthy rain delay, Woakes returned after the interruption to snare another couple and was backed up by injured spinner Moeen Ali as the visitors' middle-order suffered a familiar implosion, crashing from 3-264 to 7-275 in the blink of an eye.

Alex Carey and Pat Cummins briefly stalled the celebrations for England's giddy fans with a 19-run stand for the eighth wicket, but The Oval erupted again when Cummins tried to punish a short ball from Moeen that instead was edged on to his thigh pad and ballooned to his rival skipper.

Ben Stokes's delight was palpable, given he had earlier muffed a chance off Smith that for a while seemed set to change the game's outcome.

But as befitting the sense of sentiment that has engulfed the final days of this match, with Australia eight wickets down and still 90 runs from victory Stokes tossed the ball to Broad in his final Test outing and he – after a few mildly nervous moments – brought the house down and the match to a climax.

As Carey and Todd Murphy shrank the margin to 55 with a spirited ninth-wicket partnership, Broad revisited the hijinks of Australia's first innings and theatrically switched the bails on the bowler's end stumps to the wild approval of England's rejoicing fans.

In a re-run of what happened last Friday, the trick worked instantly and Murphy edged behind before Broad then complemented the six he struck off the last ball he faced in Test cricket with a wicket from the final one he bowled with Carey also caught behind and Australia bowled out for 334 just shy of 6.30pm.

To the surprise of nobody given events of the preceding 44 days, the ultimate Test also went into its final session on the back of one last polarising flashpoint.

The controversy came in the final over before lunch when Smith, then on 39 and having forged a 68-run stand with Head that rekindled Australia's hopes of an historic win, pushed forward to a ball from hobbled spinner Moeen that leapt from a length and flew above leg slip.

Stokes then timed his leap perfectly to snatch the chance in his outstretched right hand but was so elated with his snare he wound up in preparation to fling the ball skywards and, in doing so, brushed it against his right leg and watched it fall from his fingers to the turf.

The England captain immediately threw his head back in anguish at his lapse but, with umpire Joel Wilson having ruled it not out, was talked into lodging a review by teammates who reassured their skipper 'you caught it, you caught it'.

While the review process confirmed ball had indeed brushed glove, it also showed Stokes could not claim to be in control of his movements at the moment he dropped the ball because he had only one foot on the ground.

And to the vocal dismay of the previously exultant crowd, who had conveniently forgotten the similar ruling applied to Mitchell Starc's sliding catch on the boundary at Lord's last month, Smith was cleared to continue his innings.

Stokes aired his misgivings to the on-field umpires, although his angst seemed more a result of England being docked their penultimate review after the process had indeed shown Smith had gloved the ball, rather than taking issue with the eventual adjudication.

It was a moment discussed and dissected at length, largely because no sooner had the players returned to the field after lunch than another rain band took up residence over south London and the game was halted for another two hours.

As had been case when the day began amid even gloomier conditions, Woakes was deployed as the weapon most likely to inflict maximum damage on the briefly enlivened pitch.

And just as played out in the morning session after Australia's authoritative start on Sunday evening was curtailed by rain, the lengthy break brought the swift removal of two set batters.

While it was openers David Warner and Usman Khwaja who fell in quick succession in the day's initial half hour, an afternoon session of minimum 52 overs (revised down to 47 due to an accounting error by the umpires) saw Head and Smith sent back from consecutive overs.

The former fell victim to his desire to put a deeper hole in the deficit that was at that stage 120 but edged to slip trying to drive Moeen out of the rough, while Smith fell to the ever-threatening Woakes who induced a rare error soon after Australia's former skipper had reached 50.

Those double strikes broke the back of Australia's resistance and, with the England fans whipped into a state rarely seen among teams looking to level a series, the bottom half of the batting order again collapsed with the end, perversely, coming amid bursts of bright sunlight.

Mitchell Marsh edged Moeen on to his pad from where it rebounded to his chest and the resultant chance was plucked by keeper Jonny Bairstow instinctively throwing out a glove to his right, and in Woakes's next over Starc aimed an airy, perhaps weary drive that sliced to second slip.

By that stage, Australia had lost 4-11 in the course of 19 balls and, with it, any hope of fulfilling their dual ambition to retain the Ashes and also complete a series win on the old enemy's patch.

Ultimately, the wildly oscillating fortunes of the series' final day proved a fitting finale that reflected the evenly-matched nature of the teams as well as the fine margins that delivered a 2-2 scoreline.

The rain that has become the defining feature of this English summer ensured the start to day five was delayed by 10 minutes, perhaps an appropriate prologue given the role weather has played in the outcome of all matches.

While the wait for the game to resume was minimal, of greater consequence was the brooding blanket of slate-grey clouds that hung heavy above The Oval and ensured floodlights blazed during the opening session of the ultimate day.

Whether it was the intangible impact of the 'overheads' as ambient conditions are known among cricket folk, or the more measurable benefits brought by having a demonstrably different ball, the switch between events of days four and five was profound.

England's bowlers might only have had the substitute version in their hands for 11 deliveries prior to rain bringing a premature end to play on Sunday afternoon, but its enhanced properties were as obvious to players on field as to television viewers around the world.

"I think it was just a bit harder," England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick said after stumps were drawn on day four and the ball had been replaced after a Mark Wood bouncer clattered into Khawaja's batting helmet.

"The boys could sense the ball was making a different noise on the bat so immediately you've got a bit more life in it."

The combination of dark skies and hard, shiny ball (notionally 38 overs old) made batting an altogether more challenging proposition than a day earlier when Australia's unbeaten 135-run opening stand came at the rate of 3.5 an over.

With their most threatening swing and seam bowlers of the campaign – Broad and Woakes – taking up the attack, England made the most of their timely fortune.

Woakes was impeccable, as has been the case since he belatedly entered the series at Headingley, and reduced Warner to the 2019 version of himself rather than the vintage model he had appeared in scoring 58 from 99 balls a day earlier.

In getting the ball to nip off the surface as well as shift in the air, Woakes twice had Warner trapped on the crease by deliveries that slapped into his pads though the opener survived because they pitched outside leg stump.

But with his third attempt, Woakes got the ball to slide across the left-hander rather than dart back in and The Oval erupted as England snared their first of the day.

Warner had entered the series plagued by predictions he would again be targeted by Broad honing in on his front pad from around the wicket but, having seemingly found a method to combat that ploy, duly fell four times in the course of six innings to Woakes operating over the wicket.

It also meant, with Broad having announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, the head-to-head battle between he and Warner which the England seamer has won 17 times remains forever shy of the Test record which is Glenn McGrath's 19 dismissals of his Ashes rival Michael Atherton.

Next over, Broad got a delivery to jag back into Marnus Labuschagne who was struck high on the back leg but – as England's unsuccessful review conclusively showed – the point of impact came outside the right-hander's off stump.

But two balls later, Woakes sent the fans into delirium when he pinned Khawaja on the crease with a delivery that seamed past the inside edge and the Australian's hope it might also have landed outside leg were dismissed as Australia lost their other set batter and a valuable review.

It ended a hugely successful campaign for Khawaja who finished one boundary shy of becoming just the fourth Australia opener in almost 50 years to average 50 in an away Ashes series, after Rick McCosker (82.8 in 1975), Matthew Elliott (55.6 in 1997) and Chris Rogers (60 in 2015).

With two new batters at the crease, Stokes unleashed Wood for just his second spell of the innings and the fact he landed a hefty blow at the end of his second over raised further questions as to why he had been used so sparingly.

It was suggested the 33-year-old speedster was suffering from a bruised heel after three Tests in less than a month, but it was his trademark pace that had Labuschagne flirting at a ball he might have let pass only to edge low to second slip.

Having finished day four looking listless and bereft of inspiration, England were suddenly on the charge after snaring 3-34 from 11 overs in the opening hour and Australia still 215 runs from their distant victory target.

However, just as quickly as they'd snatched control – and in keeping with the entire nip-and-tuck narrative of a most remarkable series – Australia came again through a counter-punching partnership between Smith and Head.

Also in line with enduring themes, a trigger for the easing of England's bowling chokehold was the end of Woakes's spell (2-17 from six overs) replaced by the game's all-time most successful pace bowler James Anderson who has been but a shadow of his once dominant self this summer.

Anderson was welcomed to the crease by Smith slapping him down the ground for four, before Head sliced him to the backward point boundary in his next over.

Barely reaching 130kph, the 41-year-old was then sent to the fence from consecutive balls in his third over by Head who was treating the veteran like a parklands trundler.

After conceding runs at almost four an over, and with Australia suddenly within 170 of their target and with two more established batters, Stokes decided 36-year-old allrounder Moeen was a better option bowling spin with a strained right groin than was a fully-fit Anderson.

It proved a shrewd call as, despite being visibly hampered, Moeen was able to create concern for the Australia pair on the day five surface and would have made a pivotal pre-lunch breakthrough to remove Smith if not for Stokes's ill-timed celebration.

Although the England captain would ultimately wear the last laugh, if not an Ashes-winner's grin.

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Match drawn

Fifth Test: England won by 49 runs

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood