On the final day of the Ashes summer, England may be proud of the fact that they made the hosts fight it out. After Matthew Potts’ horrible time at the bowling crease he was determined to show something with the bat. He lasted 80 minutes at the crease for his unbeaten 18. As the runs mounted Australia refused to panic, waiting for the new ball and Mitchell Starc to finish off the innings. Which he did in fine style, finishing with 31 wickets for the series. He was truly the difference between the sides. Australia found themselves chasing 160, which was uncomfortably more than they had hoped for before Bethell’s wonderful innings. His 154 was of the highest calibre, and showed up the want of patience and technique of his more experienced colleagues.
Head and Wetherald put their best feet forward, savaging 18 of the runs in the opening two overs. The score mounted to 62 before things began to happen with terrifying speed. After a wayward beginning Josh Tongue troubled both openers, and sent them both back to over-optimistic swipes into the outfield. Smith emerged, full of intent, and raced to 12 in no time at all. But Will Jacks produced the finest ball of his life, bowling the hitherto unbowlable master with a drifting off-break that turned, if not square, at least far beyond Smith’s formidable defence. Usman came and went, to a guard of honour. The persevering Tongue caught him again parked on the crease with an angled bat, and he played on. Labuschagne meanwhile had decreed that Jacks was an ever-present danger and must be whacked out of the attack. After a 16-run over Stokes perforce took him off.
Then in an excess of zeal Labuschagne charged down the wicket for an improbable single. Carey sent him back, and despite a balletic dive for the crease was well short of his ground. At 5/121 England was still in the game. But Australia’s depth won the day, as Carey and Green knocked off the runs in quick time. The hosts’ belligerent attitude in the seond innings was the right one. Chasing a small target you cannot afford to poke and prod, since an unplayable delivery might happen at any moment. England missed chances in the field. Khawaja edged Jacks between keeper and slip, and neither Smith nor Stokes got near it. Labuschagne whacked Tongue to gully, but Bethell could not hold onto the ball, which had, to be fair, travelled with the muzzle velocity of a cannon shot. Tongue was magnificent. But after 11 overs of fire and brimstone the man was spent, and his replacement Carse leaked runs. He is an energetic paceman who bowls a number of excellent deliveries. But he does not achieve the consistency required for a Test match fast bowler.
And Potts did not bowl at all. Nor did the injured Stokes. It would have been no comfort for Stokes to learn that Somerset paceman Jamie Overton had bowled the Adelaide Strikers to an unexpected victory earlier in the week. Injuries have decreed that the mercurial quick only plays T20 now. It is a sign of the times. England brought a pace battery to these shores, but down they went like tenpin bowls. By the end Stokes had run out of pace options. Wood, Archer, Atkinson and himself had all succumbed to injury. And Starc? He is pushing 36. Yet he kept on firing throughout the summer, and delivered a handsome 4-1 victory to his team. For Australia, Khawaja’s retirement means that Australia can play both Green and Webster if they feel like it. The latter must not be omitted again for the forseeable future. It is a rum affair for such a Dad’s Army team to triumph so spectacularly. Scott Boland is 36, and has been on the interchange bench most of his career. Yet he played all five Tests and took 20 wickets at an incredibly low average. He gave nothing away. Yet time is ticking on for most of this team. Fortunately, likely replacements are waiting in the wings next time England arrives on these fatal shores.