Stuart Broad the hero in final fairytale England game as he finishes off Australia in nail-biting Test to draw series
STUART BROAD took the winning wickets in incredible scenes as England won the fifth Ashes Test to draw the series against Australia.
England great Broad, who announced he would retire from cricket after this Test, took the final wicket with his last ever delivery.
It saw the series levelled at 2-2 – however Australia retain the Ashes.
It was an incredible finale to Broad’s career, with the emotional England bowler cheered on by wife Mollie King from the stands.
Speaking after the Test, he said: “Once we got a couple we really started to believe.
“The crowd were unbelievable. It was so loud and we just jumped on the back of that.
“To contribute to the team with two wickets is very special.
“When you make that decision [to retire] you wonder what your last ball will be so to take a wicket to win an Ashes Test match is pretty cool.”
The two sides still had plenty to play for at The Oval on the final day of the Ashes series as England were looking to draw the series while the Aussies were looking for a 3-1 win.
The final day of the series started with Australia in the ascendancy after David Warner and Usman Khawaja had led them to 140.
However, that was before Chris Woakes struck with the opening wicket of the day as Warner nicked off for Jonny Bairstow to take the catch.
Woakes was then able to pick up the wicket of Khawaja while Mark Wood took Marnus Labuschagne for just 13.
This led Australian legend Ricky Ponting to call for an investigation into the umpires as he had a complaint about the change of balls the previous night.
But the tie swung again as Steve Smith and Travis Head got stuck in and put up a fight.
It looked like it was falling for the Aussies as Ben Stokes suffered the misfortune of dropping Smith when the ball was knocked out of his hand by his own knee.
The two battered their way to a partnership of 95 as Australia closed in on their target of winning their first Ashes series in England for over a decade.
However, a stunning spell from the England bowlers after a rain delay and tea saw them gain back the momentum.
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Australia went from 264 for 3 to 297 for 8 as Head was taken by Moeen Ali, who had battled pain in order to break the key partnership.
But the wicket gave England a bounce in their step as Woakes dismissed Smith on 54 and Mitchell Marsh fell for just 6 when Bairstow took a screamer of a catch off of Ali’s bowling.
Woakes picked up his fourth scalp of the day as Mitchell Starc nicked off for Zak Crawley to catch before captain Pat Cummins was caught by Stokes, who looked relieved after his earlier blunder.
With Australia surpassing the 300 mark, England needed just two wickets to draw the series but secure a “moral victory” as stated by Harry Brook.
Alex Carey and Todd Murphy then offered some resistance to the English bowling attack with the two keeping a decent strike rate against Stuart Broad‘s bowling.
Broad, who announced that he was retiring from cricket after the game at the end of day four, was still steaming in as he looked for one last moment of glory.
Carey and Murphy were targeting spinner Ali as they continued to frustrate England.
Carey hit a wonderful six over Ali’s head and Murphy stole a single off Broad to bring the Aussies to within 60 runs of victory.
Broad then got his moment as he managed to take the wicket of Murphy for 34 just one ball after he performed the same bail trick that got Labuschagne in the first innings.
He almost completed the day as he caught Cary’s edge but the ball fell just short of Crawley in the slip cordon.
Last man in, Josh Hazlewood, then smashed a four off of Ali to bring the Aussies within 50 runs to win, with just one wicket remaining.
Broad then did it again as he then got Carey to win the match by 49 runs and draw the series after coming from 2-0 down.
It meant his final ever delivery took an Aussie wicket – the perfect end to an incredible career.
