Cricket Highlights, 27 July: England vs Australia (5^th Test)

England vs Australia (5th Test)

As people thought, so they have done the thing. Two days of rain took away Australia’s dream of winning the Ashes. As a result, neither team won the series. England and Australia met in the 5th match of the 5-match Ashes series on 27 July. Just like pouring ashes in a match of life and death, the rain poured water on Australia’s dream of victory. Due to this, Australia had to accept a huge loss of 49 runs in the Oval Test in the rain. On the other hand, Chris Woakes won the Man of the Match title and the Man of the Series title with excellent bowling. Besides, Mitchell Starc took the man of the series for Australia.

Australia won the toss for the last Test of the Ashes series and elected to bowl while inviting England to bat. Batting first, England lost all of its wickets in the first innings and declared at 283. For them, Duckett returned to the home court after scoring 41 runs off 41 balls. After that, the English were under pressure after Joe Root and Zak Crawley were both removed from the game at 73 runs and 66 runs.

With 22 off 37 balls and 5 runs off 11 balls, Crawley and Root departed the crease. On the fourth wicket, though, Moeen Ali and Harry Brook made an effort to advance the team. Todd Murphy bowled Moeen after a 111-run partnership. He scored 34 runs off 47 balls with his bat. After that, neither Jonny Bairstow (4) nor Ben Stokes (3) accompanied Brook well.

Then, Brook followed them out of the crease. At 85 runs, his inning came to an end. 11 fours and two sixes were sprinkled throughout his 91-ball innings. In the end, the English were able to score 283 runs thanks to Mark Wood’s 28 from 29 balls and Chris Woakes’ 36 from 36 balls.

For Australia, Mitchell Starc secured a maximum of four wickets. Todd Murphy and Josh Hazlewood each claimed two wickets.

No one is less than the other one. After coming out to bat, Australia believed that England had been limited to 283 runs; nevertheless, the field is now fully empty for them. England will be caught by us this time, just like in the first two Test matches. But no, the English did not let themselves down. Additionally, English bowlers threw strikes at the oval’s center wicket. With that, the Australians’ hopes of scoring huge innings vanished in an instant. Just 295 runs were needed to bowl out Australia. They could only grab a 12-run lead.

Usman Khawaja and David Warner started out well in the opening inning after being given the opportunity to bat. However, they broke up after scoring 49 runs together. In 52 balls, David Warner scored 24 runs. In 118 minutes, Marnus Labuschagne managed just 9 runs on 82 balls. His hit rate is only 10.97 percent. Usman Khawaja was dismissed after 47 runs and 157 balls were faced. Travis Head was likewise easily eliminated for only 4 runs on 5 balls. 

However, Steven Smith resisted the English bowlers for Australia. He had a great game, scoring 71 runs off 123 balls. Then, Pat Cummins and Todd Murphy fought valiantly against the English bowlers until Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc were dismissed for 10 and 7 runs, respectively, toward the close of the innings. Pat Cummins had a stunning cameo performance, scoring 36 runs on 86 balls. Todd Murphy made 34 runs off 39 shots.

For the English, Chris Woakes took 3 wickets. Each Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, and Joe Root claimed two wickets. James Anderson picked up one wicket.

Then, England scored 395 runs while batting in the second innings before the first session of the fourth day came to a close. Their partnership of 79 runs between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett represented a significant victory. After completing 42 runs off 55 balls, Duckett was struck out. In 67 balls, Ben Stokes scored 42 runs. In 76 balls, Zak Crawley scored 73 runs. Harry Brook was then struck out for 6 runs. Joe Root played 106 balls before being removed for 91 runs. After 78 runs off 103 balls, Jonny Bairstow was out. In 38 balls, Moeen Ali scored 29 runs. 

For Australia, Todd Murphy and Mitchell Starc both claimed four wickets. 

Finally, in Australia’s 2nd innings, the Australians were dismissed for 334 runs after starting their innings with a target of 384 runs thanks to the contributions of David Warner (60 runs), Usman Khawaja (72 runs), Steven Smith (54 runs), and Travis Head (43 runs). As a result, they left the field with a loss of 49 runs. Due to this, this year’s Ashes series is a draw.

England vs Australia Scoreboard

England (1st innings) – 283/10 (54.4)

Australia (1st innings) – 295/10 (103.1)

England (2nd innings) – 395/10 (81.5)

Australia (2nd innings) – 334/10 (94.4)

Result – England won by 49 runs 

Player of the match – Chris Woakes 

Player of the series – Chris Woakes

Player of the series – Mitchell Starc

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Chris Woakes

England vs Australia Playing Xis

England	Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Harry Brook, Mark Wood, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Zak Crawley, James Anderson
Australia	Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head, Mitchell Starc, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Hazlewood, David Warner, Todd Murphy