England v Australia, 5th Test, The Oval, 27-31 July, 2023

Losing 4-11 in your middle order when you are trying to win or draw the game is unacceptable.

But well done England.

The rain has juiced up the wicket both times - first thing this morning, and after this resumption. Woakes has used the conditions brilliantly.

75%

32 overs, 91 runs, 3 wickets.

That’s a very unattractive equation for Australia.

Even more unattractive with that …

Jesus, have a go at the Pommy bias in the Dickinfo commentary...

82.6 - Broad to Murphy, no run - whoosh, another ripper! Maybe slightly wide with his line and it prances through as Murphy tries to get out once again

82.5 - Broad to Murphy, FOUR runs (no further commentary )

Can’t last long now

27 overs. Can’t win, can’t survive.

With that, it's approaching 3 am and I'm rooted. Night all.

Will stick it out. Won’t be long.

Over 80% now.

Needed that one from Broad, just as things were starting to swing back again…

All over this over

Margin of 50 currently. So we’ve had two wins by 50 runs or less, and two by three wickets or less.

and that’s it, 49 runs

rain about 5 minutes away??

Two all, same as 2019.

And a fairytale ending for Broad, luckless all day before taking the last two.

So the series finishes Desmond, like a number of other memorable ones over here (Ashes ‘19, India ‘21-‘22, SA ‘03, WI back in ‘95 I think)… won’t be fully satisfactory for either side, England don’t regain the Ashes and Australia don’t end their winless series streak over here, but the cricket we’ve seen makes it kind of fitting. Could have been any scoreline except perhaps the McGrath Special, given England never looked in danger of losing at Old Trafford!

Over 1,300 runs in this match without a century! In fact only seven of them in the whole series, and nobody made more than one. 10 batsmen made 300 runs but nobody made 500. Bowling efforts pretty even as well, where do you start to pick a player of the series?

Root and Starc, apparently. Not sure I’d have chosen either of them.

Woakes. Bit more realistic. But for his batting at Headingley, England would not have won there either.

Could have been any one of 4 or 5 players on each side. Struggle to remember a series where individual performances were so evenly spread.

And yeah, second thoughts, keep Woakesy around for another couple of years. We need some experience in the attack. Still not sure on India though.

Well I’ll be right buggered.


First I leave off and it’s Australia 125 (or some such)/0 with rains on the horizon. And looking invulnerable.


Then I leave off again and coming back this time they’ve lost the damn thing.

Meanwhile, Anderson’s Ashes career, if not his Test career as a whole, ends with a whimper, after just a handful of fruitless overs today.

Stokes wants to be there in the next Ashes series.