Sydney: Mitchell Starc took 31 wickets. Travis Head posted three centuries and tallied 629 runs. Alex Carey completed 28 dismissals.
The bowling, batting and fielding performances feature highly on the all-time lists for Aussies in the Ashes, underscoring Australia’s dominance in the 4-1 series win that was completed on Day 5 of the fifth test with a five-wicket win in Sydney.
“Yeah, it has been magnificent,” Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in captain for four of the five tests in the absence of Pat Cummins, said of the individual contributions. “I think everyone’s stood up at different times. (Starc, Head and Carey) were obviously huge standouts, but other guys stood up at different times throughout the series and, you know, that’s what makes a good team.”
The Australians bowled England out for 342 on the fifth morning of the series finale and, chasing 160 for victory, finished 161-5 with Carey hitting the winnings runs and Cameron Green unbeaten on 22. Usman Khawaja was sent into retirement with a guard of honor and a standing ovation.
“It was nice to finish on a high note,” said Smith, who scored a century in the first innings to move up to No. 6 on the all-time list. “We know the importance of every test match with the World Test Championship, so to get the result here and finish the series on a high was incredibly pleasing.”
The Australians retained the Ashes with wins in the first three tests, but England was determined to narrow the margin after its drought-breaking win in Melbourne.
“Tough one to take knowing that we can play a lot better than that, but … the Australian cricket team, they’ve just been incredible for five test matches,” injured England captain Ben Stokes said. “But also, being pretty truthful to ourselves, we’ve done a little bit of damage ourselves.”
Khawaja’s kiss goodbye
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The 39-year-old veteran walked to the crease after Smith was bowled by Will Jacks and Australia was 92-3. He was given a guard of honor from the England players, shook hands with Stokes and hugged Marnus Labuschagne.
He got off the mark with a paddled reverse sweep and edged another ball between the wicketkeeper and first slip for another 2.
Labuschagne had a reprieve when he was dropped on 20 by Jacob Bethell and took 16 off the next over, bowled by Jacks, to get the chase down to 41.
That’s where Khawaja’s 88-test career finished, dragging a delivery from Josh Tongue (3-42) onto his stumps.
He saluted the crowd, then kneeled and kissed the turf in front of a “Thankyou Uzzy” sign that was painted onto the field.
Labuschagne was soon run out for 37 when he took off for a single, only to get sent back by Carey.
At 121-5, it was tense, until Carey and Green combined to usher Australia home.
Fifth morning
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England resumed on Day 5 at 302-8, a lead of 119 runs, and was bowled out for 342, a 159-run lead with 2 1/2 sessions remaining.
Starc dismissed Bethell for 154 and Tongue (6) to finish off the England innings and finish the series with 31 wickets at an average of 19.9, a performance that earned him the player of the series honors.
The Australians started their chase quickly, scoring 10 in the first over, before Head was caught in the deep for 29.
After getting a major reprieve on a contentious DRS decision on 16, Jake Weatherald misjudged a short ball from Tongue and was caught out for 34.
Contentious call
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That DRS ruling added extra spice to the last day of the series.
England reviewed umpire Ahsan Raza’s not out decision to a caught behind appeal against Weatherald from Brydon Carse’s bowling.
DRS technology appeared to show a slight murmur when the ball passed the toe of Weatherald’s bat before going through to the wicketkeeper. But TV umpire Kumar Dharmasena deemed there was inconclusive evidence, and upheld the original decision.
The England players were stunned, after watching the DRS replays on the stadium screens, and Stokes had to step in to move Carse away from umpire Raza as he demanded an explanation. Stokes calmly approached the umpire, discussed the decision-making process, and got on with the game.
Crowd record
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The total crowd across five days of the fifth test was 211,032, a record for the Sydney Cricket Ground.
