Aside from the obvious headline query, the central research question coming into this Ashes experiment was simple: could England’s batters go about their Bazballing business against the world’s best attack? After one last dominant day, the verdict, in the affirmative, is clear.
The fate of the Fifth Test, and therefore the series result, remains unresolved, but England are a decent bowling display away from the consolation of a 2-2 draw, after their batting unit signed off for the summer in style to leave Australia 377 behind and facing a daunting chase for a first outright series victory here in 23 years.
England’s 389 for nine took just 80 overs to compile, Joe Root’s 91 leading the way, along with seventies from Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow. With James Anderson and Stuart Broad the surviving pair and the new-ball due, Ben Stokes may well settle on a declaration overnight.
There was no series-capping century inked on England’s scorecard, but instead another string of contributions that emphasised just why this lineup is now so feared, no single dangerman whose departure heralds the hard work done, no respite for an Australian attack understandably wearied at the end of a long, condensed tour.
England came into this series with seven specialist batters and bar Ollie Pope, injured after two Tests, all have passed 300 runs. After nine batting innings each (England, decisively, did not get a second hit at Old Trafford) six of the series’ top seven run-makers are on the home team, the sole Australian among them, Usman Khawaja, playing almost a different game in striking at 38.
By this point, it feels as if both sides are in on the joke, doing all they can to emphasise a contrast of styles that, far from narrow towards consensus, have only drifted further apart as the series has worn on, like distant stars once cousins at the point of Test cricket’s Big Bang, only due to cross paths again when the whole thing implodes.
England’s openers took a single over at the top of the day to knock off Australia’s 12-run overnight lead. Ben Duckett needed eight deliveries to match Marnus Labuschagne’s two-hour vigil of nine off 82. Not until the fifth over the previous morning had Australia managed the day’s first runs off the bat. England’s first five today brought 40 without loss.
A score of 73 took Crawley’s final series tally to 480, his coming of age this summer offering up one one of those rare instances where former critics can still feel reasonably sure they were right and sit happy enough to be proven wrong now. Crawley’s returns in the first year of Bazball had not been good enough and he had indeed been given more rope than might have seemed fair or wise, conceding himself that under any other regime he would have been out with the washing long ago. The 25-year-old was nobody’s pick for top run-scorer at the start of the series, even the case for his inclusion made on the basis that he might boom enough to offset the bust. Instead, the Kent man has been arguably England’s most consistent batter, failing only twice in nine innings and averaging 53. Lest Khawaja make 57 in the second dig here, he will finish the summer top of the pile having also scored more swiftly than any other recognised bat.
Given England’s main winter engagement, Crawley’s dismantling of Todd Murphy’s spin before lunch bodes well, though naturally the Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, on turning tracks will provide an altogether different Test. Murphy showed his promise on Australia’s own tour of India this spring, but the learning curve here has been steep, thrust in and out of the spotlight since Nathan Lyon’s injury. The 22-year-old, to his credit, has fought hard and from limited opportunity displayed his worth as a partnership breaker, snaring Stokes for the third time in four innings, then, later, Root just as he looked certain to bookend his series with hundreds.
Having learnt from the mini-collapses that dogged their first-innings, though, England ensured no hint of a lifeline became anything more, every top order wicket bar one spread at least 60 runs from the next.
Harry Brook’s short stay was the exception, the 24-year-old almost shattering the press box window hitting Murphy for six from his second ball but then feathering behind in the face of an excellent Josh Hazlewood spell. Even after making just seven in his 20th Test knock, Brook’s career average at the end of his first Ashes sits at 62, second only to Sir Donald Bradman among those to have played as many innings.
Bairstow remains the batter whose series is most challenging to rate, mainly due to the errors with the gloves that cost his side dear early on. But runs were always due to be the trade-off and his 321 are a new record for an English wicketkeeper in five-match Ashes series.
The Yorkshireman’s departure gave England’s tail licence for a late thwack and Mitchell Starc the opportunity to continue his prolific series, four wickets in the innings taking his tally to 23 despite being left out of the opener.
There was also a hero’s welcome for Anderson, playing surely his final Ashes Test, from the Oval crowd and a rather hostile one from Starc, who pinged the veteran on the arm. The seamer, who found the boundary twice in a grandstand final over, turns 41 tomorrow and the possibility for something poetic barely needs stating.
