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Bad light saw
England robbed of certain victory against Australia in the Fifth and final test
in the Ashes series, as the umpires brought an end to the match as they decided
the light was that bad, that play could no longer carry on.
This which saw
the Australian team unable to hide their joy, as the tourists skipped off the
field with Cheshire cat smiles, knowing they had avoided losing a fourth match
in this series and more importantly, stopped England winning the series 4-0.
First couple of
days play saw Australia make the England bowlers toil away, with Shane Watson
and Steve Smith giving the Aussies their biggest total in whole of the Ashes
series, finishing up on 492 for 9 declared.
Chris Rogers had
looked to kick on from his century in Durham, as both he David Warner started
his Innings off well, while his partner down the other end in Warner, was out
for 6 off the bowling of James Anderson with Matt Prior taking the catch
behind.
Rogers then fell
to Graeme Swann as the batsman nicked one low to Jonathon Trott at slips, as he
departed off for 23.
Stuart Broad bowled
a bouncer at Watson with the ball striking him hard on the helmet, causing his cheekbone
a problem as the grill smacked him right on the bone on the helmet as he had a
little swelling.
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Michael Clarke
was out for 7 when pace bowler James Anderson bowled the Australian Captain out
and gave England a bit of confident as Australia was in control.
Shane Watson reached
his hundred driving a shot to the boundary off Anderson, to bring up his ton.
Late on in the day, he hooked a delivery off Stuart Broad and could only find
Kevin Pietersen near the boundary ropes who took the catch to dismiss him for
176 and also saw the batsman go off to a standing ovation with the tourists on
289 for 4.
Peter Siddle made
another decent knock for the tourist side, before Anderson bowled him for 23
with the Lancashire pace man seemingly, to have rediscovered the form that he
had at the start of the first two tests.
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Brad Haddin fell
to the surprise bowling of Jonathon Trott, as he went for 30 with England choosing
to ignore Lancashire spinner Simon Kerrigan, in favour of Trott, which seemed to be a slap in the face
to the young spin bowler as he had suffered from nerves as well as coming up
against an in form Shane Watson.
James Faulkner
was the 7th wicket to tumble, when Woakes got given a reprieve by
Cook in the bowling department and he made it count, as Woakes got an edge from
Faulkner as he found Trott who took a catch to dismiss him for 23.
Mitchell Starc
scored 13 runs before Swann took his wicket, with Jimmy Anderson then making a
fantastic Caught and bowled effort to get rid of Ryan Harris for 33, before the
Aussies declared on 492 for 9.
England got their
Innings underway as they made a sluggish start, before Alistair Cook edged
behind for 25 off Ryan Harris bowling.
For England they were
struggling to find runs on this flat batting pitch at the Oval compared to how their
opponents fared.
Joe Root made 68 with
Nathan Lyon picking up the wicket, with Watson taking the catch to get the
Yorkshireman out, as England were labouring on 118 for 2.
Trott &
Pietersen put on a partnership to help England recover a bit, that was till
Mitchell Starc trapped Jonathon Trott from nowhere getting him out lbw for 40.
Kevin Pietersen
had batted a well constructed Innings as he had just reached his half century, when
Pietersen played at a ball by Starc and he found Watson who took the catch, to get
rid of the danger man for Australia.
Chris Woakes was
next to go when he found Michael Clarke in slips, as he departed for 25 as
England were struggling on 269-5.
Ian Bell who had
stuck around for a long time at the crease, saw his Innings end when Faulkner
picked up his first wicket of the Innings, when Brad Haddin collected the ball
which saw Bell reach 45.
Stuart Broad
tried to bat his way into his the Innings, but that didn`t happen. As Mitchell
Starc bowled Broad for 9 and then this kick started a mini revival for England,
with Matt Prior coming back into form along with Graeme Swann as they put on a
partnership that frustrated the Australian bowlers.
That eventually
came to an end ,with Matt Prior caught off the bowling of James Faulkner for 47,
then James Anderson came into bat as England put on 5 runs to the score, before
Anderson clipped the ball to Haddin to give Faulkner`s his 3rd
wicket.
Simon Kerrigan
who had been lambasted by the media and some fans for his bowling spell in the
Australian Innings, when as he came out to bat he was greet by a huge ovation by
the Oval crowd.
Kerrigan got off
the mark to a huge cheer as well by the England fans, before Swann then saw his
wickets disturbed as England were all out for 377.
With a day`s play
lost due to heavy rain, Australia tried to force a result as they wanted to try
and manufacture a result. Shane Watson and David Warner came to the crease to
try and smash some runs in quick time and build up a big enough lead, to try
and entice England into having to a go.
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England then got
the opening wicket of the Australian Second Innings. As Pantomime villain for
England fan`s in this series David Warner was out, when he hit the ball right
back to James Anderson off his own bowling for 12, as he finished his
controversial series off with the bat in poor form.
Watson went next
for Australia as Swann spun his magic to get Watson playing and his effort went
to Pietersen yet again, as he fell for 26 and Australia was 44 for 2 now.
Brad Haddin
played at one and was caught by Matt Prior of the delivery of Stuart Broad, Broad
then found himself on a hat trick as got Faulkner out the same way next ball,
as he was out for 22 leaving Australia 67-4.
Michael Clarke
came to the crease to try and rescue his side as he made an unbeaten 28 not out,
but not before the wicket`s of Steve Smith for 7 and Ryan Harris for 1 with
both falling victim to Stuart Broad.
The Players were
then took off for a bit of drizzle and with tea taken early, Australia declared
on 111 for 6 which set a target of 227 for England to chase a series 4-0 win.
England started
off in a positive manor, as Australia dangled the carrot of a 4-0 lead to
England, and England getting the bit between their teeth as they were going
along well.
Joe Root went early
for England as he scored 11 with Harris finding the edge on Root`s bat and
Haddin.
Cook & Trott carried
on the England run chase, before Cook was out for 34 lbw by Faulkner and then
Pietersen joined Trott yet again out in the middle.
England was
looking good in the chase till Pietersen fell on 62 with England, just 64 runs away
from a 4-0 victory insight.
Trott fell on 59,
lbw by James Faulkner bowling and England was starting to stumble now towards
victory, as the only two results possible in the game was a England victory or a
Draw.
As the light was starting
to cause concern to the umpires, while Australia was desperate to get off the
field, as if they went off it would certainly be the end of the match then.
The Umpire made
movements and talked about it, but stayed out on the field for the time being with
Michael Clarke, not happy at all with the umpires. As he tried every trick in
the book to get into the umpires head as he tried to delay the match with only
5 over’s left in the match.
Clarke wanted time
to be eaten into the game, as he wanted to drag the slowness on, in order to
avoid England winning the game as they were more likely to do it.
Ian Bell and Chris
Woakes were the England batsmen at the crease, as they were the men who had the
chance to win it for the home side.
Woakes and Bell were
moving England along nearer the target needed, but then Ian Bell started to run
down the pitch only for Mitchell Starc to pick up take aim and thrown down the
stumps with Ian Bell a mile out from home.
Replays shown he
didn`t make it back in time and that led to the Umpires then, taking another
light reading with Clarke trying to be nosey.
However the
umpires moved him away, so they could see what the gauge said. So after a bit
of deliberation the umpires decided, that the light was too dangerous to play
in, despite floodlights on.
This saw
Australia`s players run back to the pavilion with smiles beaming on their
collective faces, while England players and fans were furious with the decision
to take the players off.
Fans in the stands
were showing their displeasure with the decision as boos ringed around the
ground, then came the announcement that match was drawn due to bad light.
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That meant
England took the series 3-0 and with England & Australia players shaking
hands, the boos were still ringing round the Kia Oval.
England had fell
short by 21 runs for a historic 4-0 series win on home soil, but they still won
and retained the Ashes for the 3rd time in a row and with the return
series in the winter down under.
ENGLAND WIN SERIES 3-0 IN 5 MATCH SERIES
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