Some will argue that cricket was not the winner at the Kia Oval last night, after the final Investec Test was called off for bad light with England needing 21 runs from four overs. But given the home side’s intransigence earlier in the match, a draw was the just result.
It was 7.35pm when Aleem Dar took the players off at the Kia Oval to mass booing from the capacity crowd. England were on the brink of their fourth win of the series, a magnitude of victory never achieved previously by them in an Ashes series, and their supporters felt cheated.
But like parasites feeding off a munificent host, Alastair Cook’s team have made precious little running in this match and it was only Michael Clarke’s declaration which gave them any hope of redemption and the crowd any chance of entertainment.
Clarke would have felt impelled to set up a game following his team’s criticism of England’s negative tactics with bat and ball earlier in the match, but he did not deserve to get booed for his part. Setting his opponents 228 in a minimum of 44 overs he and his bowlers kept up a rate of 13.04 overs an hour, which was not many below the 15 overs expected, slowing only when it became obvious that light was an issue. But frustrating as it was for England as well as their legions of fans when Dar decided to call it off, once his light meter had dipped below a certain level, umpires cannot bend the laws because history beckons and the home crowd wants their team to win.
International sport cannot be ruled by the mob. It was only eight years ago, in that ding-dong 2005 Ashes series, that England’s supporters at the Oval cheered to the rafters when bad light stopped play. But then a draw suited them that day.
The frustration shown by the fans, whose appetite had no doubt been whetted by Kevin Pietersen’s brilliant 62 off 55 balls, did not take any gloss off the presentation of the many trophies, including a replica of the famous urn. England have won the series 3-0, a resounding scoreline given Australia had a first-innings lead on four occasions and the home side never once passed 400 in the series. The last time England failed to make 400 in a summer was in 1999, when they were at their lowest ebb of recent times, so this win was as much about prestidigitation as planning.
Their secret has been to win the big moments in the series – the pressure cooker last day at Trent Bridge; the after-tea session on the last day at Durham, to name just two. Your best players tend to clinch those moments and James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ian Bell grabbed the opportunities well, with Bell deservedly, along with Australia’s Ryan Harris, man of the series.
In Ashes series the end justifies the means and this was not a glorious exhibition of cricket like the 2005 series. England were efficient in matches that were not brimming with quality.
England’s “we have what we hold” mentality, and they held the Ashes coming into this series, meant that the pitches were dry, slow turners, suited to Graeme Swann and not many others. Unsurprisingly Swann had his best ever series with 26 wickets, a superb effort following the operation to his right elbow just three months previously.
After retaining the Ashes at Old Trafford and winning the series at Durham, this Test was meant to provide a crowning moment for England, though one that quickly dissipated after Australia had made 492 in the first innings.
It is not often that parts of the last three innings occur on the final day of a Test, but after Friday’s go-slow by England, Saturday’s washout, and Australia’s desire to finish the series with a flicker of fire, these were exceptional circumstances.
Australia had to get England out first once play had got under way at 11.30am, following a period of mopping up the heavy overnight rain. If the groundstaff at the Kia Oval did a good job, so did Ian Bell in seeing his team past the follow-on target of 292. Once that had been achieved, the onus was on Australia, a realisation that enabled England’s batsmen to bat more freely than at any other time in the match, the last four batsman adding 78 runs in 16 overs their first innings closed on 377, a deficit of 115.
With a day’s play missed, the pitch was not as worn as usual, so Clarke had to leave England a target they might be tempted by to get wickets rather than to rely on the ball misbehaving. Before four-day cricket, county captains were expert in judging what to leave their opponents, something Clarke seemed unsure of despite promoting his biffers up the order.
Clarke declared during the tea interval, setting England 227 to win in a minimum of 44 overs. Cook and Joe Root gave England a solid start while Australia attacked in the hunt for wickets, though Root went in the 50th over flapping at Harris to give Brad Haddin his 29th catch of the series and beat Rod Marsh’s Ashes record of 28 set in the 1982-83 series.
Cook and Trott then elevated the platform with a stand of 64 in 15 overs before Cook was lbw playing all round one from Faulkner. Then the pyrotechnics began with Pietersen’s fizzing Catherine wheel offset by Jonathan Trott’s steady candle before Bell’s sparkler promised to write four-nil into the darkening sky. But just as a ground-breaking victory beckoned the light, despite the use of floodlights, became too bad for the red ball and the game was abandoned as a draw.
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