ASHES SERIES 2019
SERIES DRAWN 2-2
AUSTRALIA RETAINED THE ASHES
| 01-05 Aug | 1 Australia 284 & 487-7dec beat England 374 & 146 by 251 runs | Edgbaston |
| 14-18 Aug | 2 Australia 250 & 154-6 drew with England 258 & 258-5dec | Lord's |
| 22-26 Aug | 3 England 67 & 362-9 beat Australia 179 & 246 by one wicket | Headingley |
| 04-08 Sep | 4 Australia 497-8dec & 186-6dec beat England 301 & 197 by 185 runs | Old Trafford |
| 12-15 Sep | 5 England 294 & 329 beat Australia 225 & 263 by 135 runs | The Oval |
ENGLAND crashed out of Ashes contention with one match left to play as Australia took an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series with victory late on the final day of the fourth Test.
Josh Hazlewood trapped Craig Overton plumb lbw to bring a reasonably gutsy England resistance to an end - but the plaudits in this series must be mainly reserved instead for former Aussie skipper Steve Smith.
Disgraced in a ball-tampering scandal which rocked Australian cricket in the early part of last year, Smith has gone a long a way to redeem himself by playing almost perfectly since his return to the team this summer.
The Sydney man has scored totals of 144, 142, 92, 211 and 82, and so averages a rather ridiculous 134.20.
He basically only seems to get out when he gets bored - and it feels like England have basically given up trying to get him out otherwise.
It was no surprise then that, with a chance to retain the Ashes with victory at Old Trafford, Australia opted to bat and attempt to set a total, despite the unsettled weather.
England, by contrast, hoped to get the Aussies out cheaply to take control of the game and series - and Stuart Broad delivered two early wickets following a complete washout of the first session of day one.
But from the somewhat awkward position of 28-2, Australia progressed serenely without further loss to 144 as Smith embarked on yet another odyssey of an innings.
At 144-3, Smith lost Marnus Labuschagne as a partner, the latter having replaced the former as the first ever concussion substitute in Test cricket in the rainy draw in the second match at Lord's.
Labuschagne himself did well at the crease and he deservedly retained his place in the team for the third Test at Headingley and again at Old Trafford, even despite the return of Smith.
Unsurprisingly, England began tentatively and began a delayed day three with nightwatchman Overton at the crease following the dismissal of opener Joe Denly (4) for another cheap score on the previous evening.
Overton himself lasted less than two overs of the new day and, at 25-2, it looked as if England might be rolled over quite easily.
Instead, Rory Burns and Joe Root finally showed some resistance and took England through to tea without any further damage.
But both men fell within 17 balls of each other and, by the end of day three, Starc had also managed to remove Jonny Bairstow.
A better forecast for the weekend suggested that, despite rain affecting two of the first three days, there would still be a result in this match. England, however, were well behind in the game.
At least there was the reassuring Ben Stokes was at the crease as day before began - but, this time, there was no repeat of his Headingley heroics and, when he edged Starc to Smith at second slip, England were 243-7 with only Jos Buttler and tail remaining.
Buttler made 41 as England narrowly edged past a follow-on which was not likely to have been enforced in any case - and, left without the choice, Australia set about quick runs with which to kill off the hosts.
This did not exactly go to plan, though, as opener David Warner landed a pair with a third successive duck to add to his other scores in this series of two, eight, three, five and 61.
Warner was also banned following the sandpaper scandal and, even before then, had a somewhat chequered disciplinary past.
Unlike Smith though, he still has nothing to be proud of. He has contributed little of note to this series.
Having reduced Australia to 44-4, England appeared to be stumbling their way back into another match - but Smith remained resolutely immovable as he put on yet another century stand, this time with Matthew Wade.
Smith was eventually out for 82 - his lowest score of the series - though only after having opted to play the reverse sweep in an attempt to chase quick runs.
Four overs later, Australia declared for a second time in the match, setting England a record target of 383, 24 runs more than they had required in Leeds.
More likely, England would need to bat out time and secure a draw which would keep the contest for the urn alive until the fifth and final Test at the Oval this week.
But that did not seem too likely at all when the main contributors from the first innings - Burns and Root - were both out for ducks to Pat Cummins by the end of the first over.
England were 0-2 with Denly and Jason Roy at the crease, both players whose selection has been subject to much criticism. Somehow both players made it to the close of play on day four.
By lunch on day five, however, England were 87-4. Denly was still there, to his credit - but Roy was bowled through the gate by Cummins for 31 and Stokes fell shortly afterwards.
A further two wickets followed in the next session to leave England at tea on 166-6 with 36 overs left to play and Buttler as the only specialist batsman remaining.
Hazlewood would account for the Somerset man after he misjudged a leave and the ball cannoned into the top of off-stump - and Jofra Archer was lbw to Nathan Lyon in the following over.
With Overton and Leach at the crease, England appeared to exhale one last breath of hope into saving the match, as the pair was able to survive through 14 overs.
But Leach was eventually caught by Wade at short-leg off the part-time off-spin of Labuschagne – and, 10 balls later, Hazlewood trapped Overton lbw.
Overton, of course, had a review to use up - but the check showed the decision by on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena was good and so merely confirmed that it was over for Overton and over for England.
Australia have retained the Ashes and have at the very least avoided defeat in a Test series in England for the first time in 18 years. It could and should get better than that, of course.
Victory at the Oval would result in Australia taking the series 3-1, which coincidentally would be the same score that England achieved when winning away in the Ashes in 2010-11.
And, on the balance of play so far, that would feel just about right, if only to demonstrate the stranglehold which Smith has had over the English bowlers.
Hazlewood and Cummins, meanwhile, have enjoyed similar dominance over a home batting line-up which, save for a few outstanding exceptions, remains as sketchy as ever.
During his post-match press conference, captain Root, perhaps understandably, was not slow to focus on the Headingley heist and other occasional bright moments which had kept England's hopes alive.
But Root will also surely be aware that he has never really convinced in the leadership role and that it has undoubtedly had an effect on his performances with the bat.
Furthermore, the departure of head coach Trevor Bayliss at the end of this summer acts as the natural end to a cycle in which the focus of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been unashamedly on white-ball cricket at the expense of the longest form of the game.
In this regard, the policy has been successful - England have become the world's best One Day International team and won the ICC World Cup for the first time ever.
But the Test team, which was itself ranked number one back in 2011, has unquestionably suffered and it is now instead marooned in the middle of the rankings list with little sign of improvement on the way.
After all, it will take more than a change of coach, captain, or both to make England more competitive again in the Test arena.
Pertinently, the County Championship resumes this week with three rounds of fixtures yet to be completed.
Ever more, the Championship gets shoved to the margins of the season - and the outlook of a change of tack from the ECB looks bleak considering 2020 finally brings about the much-derided arrival of the Hundred.
For sure, this Ashes defeat hurts - as Ashes defeats invariably do - but, to be fair, this World Cup-winning, record chase-breaking summer has still been an amazing, joyous rollercoaster for English cricket.
Now, though, there simply must be some sort of realignment made by the ECB between red-ball and white-ball cricket.
Otherwise, innings such as those by Stokes at Headingley, and Smith pretty much everywhere, will become a dying art.
Moreover, as dramatic as it sounds, glorious summers for English cricket could even become a thing of the past.
CENTURIES
211 Steve Smith (Australia), fourth Test
144 Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
142 Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
135* Ben Stokes (England), third Test
133 Rory Burns (England), first Test
115* Ben Stokes (England), second Test
117 Matthew Wade (Australia), fifth Test
110 Matthew Wade (Australia), first Test
FIVE-FORS
6-45 Jofra Archer (England), third Test
6-62 Jofra Archer (England), fifth Test
6-49 Nathan Lyon (Australia), first Test
5-30 Josh Hazlewood (Australia), third Test
5-46 Mitchell Marsh (Australia), fifth Test
5-46 Mitchell Marsh (Australia), fifth Test
5-86 Stuart Broad (England), first Test
MOST RUNS
774 Steve Smith (Australia) @ 110.57
441 Ben Stokes (England) @ 55.12
390 Rory Burns (England) @ 39.00
353 Marnus Labaschagne (Australia) @ 50.42
337 Matthew Wade (Australia) @ 33.70
325 Joe Root (England) @ 32.50
325 Joe Root (England) @ 32.50
312 Joe Denly (England) @ 31.20
247 Jos Buttler (England) @ 24.70
214 Jonny Bairstow (England) @ 23.77
191 Travis Head (Australia) @ 27.28
247 Jos Buttler (England) @ 24.70
214 Jonny Bairstow (England) @ 23.77
191 Travis Head (Australia) @ 27.28
MOST WICKETS
29 Pat Cummins (Australia) @ 19.62
23 Stuart Broad (England) @ 26.65
22 Jofra Archer (England) @ 20.27
22 Jofra Archer (England) @ 20.27
20 Josh Hazlewood (Australia) @ 21.85
20 Nathan Lyon (Australia) @ 33.40
12 Jack Leach (England) @ 25.8320 Nathan Lyon (Australia) @ 33.40
10 Chris Woakes (England) @ 33.10
8 Ben Stokes (England) @ 45.25
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