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.
