Manchester: Part-time leg-spinner Marnus Labuchagne (1/9) provided the much-needed breakthrough in the 90th over as Australia have retained the Ashes on English soil for the first time in 18 years with an emphatic 185-run victory in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Sunday.
With all the recognised batsmen back in the hut, third Test hero Jack Leach (12) and Craig Overton (21) held onto the fort in a stubborn ninth wicket stand to save the match.
But, Aussie skipper Tim Paine’s decision to bring the leg-spinner on proved to be a masterstroke with England needing to see out at least 15 overs in the final hour with just one wicket in hand.
Labuchagne ripped one into the rough on a length outside off, and it rears up at Leach, fended it off from near his stomach, but it takes his gloves and pops up to the fielder Mathew Wade who took a stunner. Josh Hazlewood (2/31) did the formality dismissing Overton three overs later.
Earlier, pacer Pat Cummins did the bulk of the damage ripping through the top order with figures of 4/43. “Unbelievable, tough to put into words what it means to retain the Ashes. Shows how hard Ashes cricket is. We felt like it might happen quickly. It’s amazing how things have worked out so far. Our big boys bowled fabulously all day,” Labuchagne said after the match.
Steve Smith, one of the architects in retaining the urn said, “It feels amazing to know the urn is coming home. Incredibly special. I have been here a few times, things haven’t gone our way and we haven’t performed to our best of ability in 2013 and 2015.”
“To come back here, I always wanted to tick off my bucket list to get the urn over here. Obviously there is another game and we would like to win that. Extremely satisfying,” added the former skipper who has accumulated 641 runs till now with a game to go.
“It is fantastic. The boys fought all the way there. All the bowlers bowled exceptional all day. Patty Cummins was like an engine. Credit to England, they stuck at it the whole game. It is an awesome feeling. It was about being ready when the captain called – for one or two over bursts, Marnus also produced a wicket. It (winning the Ashes) is huge and obviously the pinnacle in Test cricket,” said Hazlewood.
Brief scores: England 301 & 197 (Joe Denly 53; Pat Cummins 4/47) lost to Australia 497/8 & 186/6 by 185 runs.
