England came close to pulling off a surprising victory over Australia in the fifth and final Test on Sunday but had to settle for a draw when umpires stopped play because of bad light.
Play came to a halt in the gloom of a London evening at The Oval with England steepingly close to victory, needing just 21 runs from four overs.
Given the target of 227 in 44 overs, England's Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott almost pulled off the victory with a 77-run partnership. England were 206 for 5 when play was stopped. The 447 runs scored on Sunday are comfortably the most ever scored on the last day of a Test match surpassing 407 at leeds in 1948. Pietersen set The Oval on fire with a fiery 50 from just 36 balls.
A day that started half an hour late and which was heading toward a dull draw ended in a 3-0 Ashes series victory for the home team. England were presented with the tiny pottery urn - said to contain the Ashes of English cricket - awarded to the winners of cricket's most famous rivalry.
Australia scored 492 for 9 declared in their first innings before the game was effected badly by rain that prevented any play on Saturday's fourth day at The Kia Oval.
"Fair play to Australia for pushing the game on," said captain Alastair Cook. "It made for a really good spectacle. I'm very proud of the way the lads have done it," he said before accepting the urn.
Sunday's final day began in muted fashion, delayed by half an hour as the game limped toward a draw. England resumed on 247 for 5 and added quick runs through Matt Prior, with 47, and Ian Bell with 45 to reach 377 all out.
Clarke decided on a risky strategy of trying to tempt Cook into accepting a run rate challenge by thrashing 111 for 6 in 23 overs and declaring at tea, setting England a target of 227 in 44 overs.
Clarke may have been hoping for some more runs but Stuart Broad snatched four wickets to slow the Australian run rate as Clarke threw caution to the wind.Root fell for just 11 with the score on 22 but Cook and Trott batted aggressively in a partnership of 64 before Cook fell leg before to a delivery from James Faulkner as he tried to clip a ball to midwicket. It was Faulkner's fifth wicket of the day after he took his first four wickets earlier in England's first innings.
Now both the teams will play 7 Odis and 2 t20 at the english venues before Australia end their 3 and a half long tiring tour. The Ashes down under in Australia wil begin november but before that Australia will a play a month in India in october-november comprising of 7 odis and 1 t20.
It's difficult to say which team will be more optimistic in Australia. The English have been the clear victors during the Ashes, but the Australians have run them closer than the 3-0 score line indicates.
At Old Trafford, rain played a big part in foiling an Australian victory. The first Test win for England was by just 14 runs. The second match at Lord's was a thumping 347-run win as Joe Root hit an impressive 180 and Ian Bell scored some of the more than 500 runs he posted during the Ashes.
With those two wins, and the draw at Old Trafford, the Ashes were lost to Australia. Ian Bell was the difference in a low-scoring fourth match in Durham, showing that it was the batsmen who made the difference.
While Australia's bowlers, led by Peter Siddle and a Ryan Harris who managed to stay fit, were consistently dangerous and challenging, the batsmen were a major disappointment. Clarke managed a big innings of 187, but very few others impressed.
Usman Khawaja only managed 114 in six innings before he was dropped. Ed Cowan was jst given a chance in a game. Shane Watson scored 418 in 10 innings, but the Australians could not score runs when they really needed them.
The batting lineup became stronger as the tour went on. David Warner had an astonishing tour. He punched Root in a bar at the start, was banished to a tour in Zimbabwe but returned quickly as Australian form collapsed on England's seaming wickets, where reverse swing is commonplace. Warner introduced solidity to the batting, as did Chris Rogers.
English bowlers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad have mastered the art of reverse swing, but will not find conditions as friendly on the hard, dry wickets in places like Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.
Broad is likely to face hostility on and off the field in Australia, whose coach Darren Lehman described his refusal to walk after clearly edging a ball to slip as "blatant cheating." Lehman was fined by the International Cricket Council for calling on Australians to give him a hostile reception.
Well u should always expect the unexpected in The Ashes. Thats why its called the most exiting and greatest test rivarly in the cricketing world.
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