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Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Monday, 24 August 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
England’s Alastair Cook and teammates celebrate winning the Ashes
London: Australia sent captain Michael Clarke into international retirement with an innings and 46-run victory in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on Sunday (23 August).
Even so England, who had already regained the Ashes, won the series 3-2 with Clarke the first Australian in more than a century to be on the losing side in four successive Ashes series in Britain.
When impressive paceman Peter Siddle had Moeen Ali (35) caught behind, England, following-on, had been dismissed for 286 in their second innings.
Siddle, only playing after Josh Hazlewood was injured, bowled with both pace and control on his way to innings figures of four for 35 in 24.4 overs - including 12 maidens. His return made the experienced 30-year-old seamer’s omission from the previous four Tests all the more surprising.
Australia’s victory on Sunday meant none of the Tests in this Ashes had gone to a fifth day - a testament to the general lack of batting resilience in both sides.
“This game sums up the series,” Clarke told BBC Radio’s Test Match Special. “Both teams have had a rollercoaster ride. The boys did as I asked, it was a test of our character and we came through it.”
This series equalled the fewest days in a Test series of five or more matches of five or more scheduled days each of 18 that took place when England faced the West Indies in 2000.
It also set a new record, in terms of days played, for an Ashes series of five or more matches of five or more days each. This had stood at 19, a mark set way back in 1884/85, an era when Tests were ‘timeless’ and played to a finish.
Australia, after losing the toss at The Oval, piled up 481. This included captain-elect Steven Smith’s 143 - an innings which saw the eventual man-of-the-match become the first Australian to score more than 500 runs in an Ashes series in England since Matthew Elliott in 1997.
It was a far more resolute first-innings batting display than in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge where Australia collapsed to 60 all out, with Stuart Broad taking eight for 15, to set up England’s Ashes-clinching innings and 78-run victory.
“The last four days haven’t quite gone to plan and we’re disappointed, but going into the series no-one gave us a chance, so we can’t let that take the gloss off a special summer,” said England captain Alastair Cook.
Rogers was named Australia’s man-of-the-series after scoring 480 runs at an average of 60, with England batsman Joe Root (460 runs at 57.50 including two hundreds) winning the Compton-Miller medal as the overall player of the series.
