[commentator] Nathan Lyon, he's struggling here.
This doesn't look good.
[crying]
This makes winning the Ashes a whole lot harder.
[commentator] England's superman!
How many times can one man do it?
[crowd cheering]
They're nervous, the Aussies. They're on the back foot.
[Carey] Howzat!
[commentator] Now, this could well be out.
It doesn't look good.
'Same old Aussies. Always cheating.'
After that is was just absolute carnage.
[commentator] The wheels are coming off here, Australia.
[Cummins] Walking back into the Long Room,
it was like we'd ripped the soul out of them.
[booing]
'Absolute disgrace.'
[Lalor] This was already a tense series, but it went up a notch.
It went up ten notches.
[chattering]
[Lyon] It was hard one, to leave the team, but also an easy one,
because with Emma expecting,
and she had a few pains and stuff
and ended up in hospital on day five.
That night we had a doctor's appointment via phone,
with our Sydney doctor and he basically said,
"Get home, ASAP."
-Get better mate, be well. -[Lyon] Yeah, see ya soon.
[Lalor] We'd assumed that Nathan Lyon
was going to be in this series for all five tests.
[Lyon] Righto.
What's Australia going to do without Nathan Lyon?
[Whateley] A replacement for Nathan Lyon was in train,
and it's a 22-year-old, Todd Murphy.
[Murphy] Nath's just a guy that for as long I've bowled off-spin
is a guy that you've looked up to.
You question yourself a little bit,
and not sure if you can sort of stand up to that.
[Murphy] Thanks Alex.
From playing a handful of State games,
to representing his country in India.
Todd's come into this group really quickly.
[Murphy] It's been a sort of a whirlwind few years.
It's happened a lot faster than I ever expected it to happen.
Doubts come into your head, am I good enough to be out here.
How am I going to go?
All that sort of stuff that sort of plays into your head.
Sometimes you're bowling, you feel like,
far out I'm not going to get a wicket and I'm going for runs.
Here, I don't know, I always feel like
-something's going to happen. -[Murphy] Yep, yep.
[Cummins] And I'll just try and buffer as well.
There's heaps of people coming up to you,
I'll just make sure I'm standing at mid-off and, helping out but,
the best thing is, just keep reminding yourself
we're up 2-nil. I just laugh every time,
oh the pressure's on, the pressure's on, we're up 2-nil.
-[Murphy] Yeah. -[Cummins] Like, really, so...
-[Cummins] Enjoy it. -[Murphy] I will.
[Cummins] Got any family up?
Yeah, they get here
night of day one.
-Perfect. -Yeah, works out really well.
-So we got to bat first then? -Yeah.
[Murphy] Found out two days before the game.
Just got final confirmation that I'm going to be playing,
and called Mum and Dad first.
[gentle guitar music]
[Murphy] So I live in a place called Moama.
Yeah, a little rural town on the New South Wales border,
that's about four hours from Melbourne.
-[Paula Murphy] Oh hello, mate. -How are you?
-Oh hello, welcome home. -Thank you.
-Hello! -Dad.
[Jamie Murphy] G'day mate,
-how are you? -[Murphy] Good, how are you?
[Paula] I don't get to see Todd that often at all.
So the times that we do catch up are really special to me.
[Paula] Have some cake.
Do you have kids approach you
when you're, like, out for dinner or walking?
[Murphy] Yep, there's been a little bit more than that.
Kids ask for things these days. People ask for my glasses and
-all that sort of stuff. -[Paula] Your glasses!?
-[Jamie] You might need that. -Yeah. [laughing]
[Murphy] They always do, hey?
Can't afford to throw them out, willy-nilly.
[Paula] I'd be proud of Todd no matter what he did,
but for someone quite, quite young to be bestowed
such an Australian honour, is, is just surreal.
Thinking of you kids, as little kids
wanting to be an Australian cricketer,
and then you actually are an Australian Test cricketer
with a baggy green that was presented to you, um...
Oh, I'm going to get emotional.
I just found it, just really, really, really special.
A real Mum moment.
[Jamie] I just think back to when he was a little kid
and how feisty he was and now to be able to follow his dream.
Proud's sort of a funny word, isn't it?
I mean, I'm more than proud.
[crowd roaring]
[commentator] That's been timed, beautifully timed.
And that's flown away for four,
and that's four fours on the bounce now for Ben Stokes.
Stokes is trying to do it again.
Nearly got England over the line at Lord's.
Did get England over the line here, four years ago.
And he'll need to be special again.
[commentator] While he's still there,
England will have hopes of eating into that deficit.
[commentator] Looks like we're going to have a change of pace.
Todd Murphy!
Ashes debut for him.
And we're going to have a look at him for the first time.
[Bhogle] You got to feel for Todd Murphy.
He's almost got to say, "I'm Todd Murphy.
Look at me as Todd Murphy,
don't look at me as Nathan Lyon."
[commentator] Big task for young Todd Murphy.
Bowl to Ben Stokes in this situation.
[Murphy] I think he's just a freak of nature.
He can do things that other guys can't.
[Murphy] It's daunting when he's standing at the other end.
[man] Go Toddy!
Yeah, he was nervous, very nervous.
[commentator] Stokes once more looking to attack.
I guess he got thrown into the fire a little bit.
[Murphy] Yeah, you can sort of sense that no matter what
he was going to come after me.
[tense music]
[man] Catch it!
[commentator] And it's gone down!
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] This would have been his first Ashes wicket.
[Murphy] Dropped catch, my own fault.
Caught me a little bit by surprise
and that was probably the chance I had to get him out.
[commentator] That's gotta be six.
He used his feet nicely there.
Brings up the 200 for England.
[commentator] And 53 for the England captain.
In the air! That's six more.
Oh, that's a long way back, that.
That's a long, long way back.
Just does it so easily, Ben Stokes.
Todd Murphy's just getting his first taste of Ashes cricket.
Oh, it's gone again. That's even further.
Ooh, that's big.
This is a tough assignment for Todd Murphy.
[Hazlewood] In terms of position in the team,
it's probably the wicketkeeper and the spinner who are
sort of a little bit lonely position.
You know, you got no one to back you up really.
[commentator] He looks a little bit confused now.
You're talking about inexperience
and it's just showing a little bit.
If they don't get a wicket this over,
will they pull him out and start bowling pace again?
Patty had a pretty clear message to me the whole time
and it didn't matter if I'd been hit for three sixes in an over.
It was just continue to be brave and your job's to take a wicket,
so keep throwing the ball up there
and keep challenging him to hit it back over your head.
[dramatic music]
[commentator] And again, no not this time. Smith!
So eventually Murphy gets his man
and they remove the England captain,
but another terrific innings of 80.
[commentator] Finally a reward for Todd Murphy,
but what a fantastic passage of play.
[Murphy] Yeah it was a nice feeling
walking off having my first wicket, that's for sure.
And it's one of those ones where ya,
you've got one Ashes wicket,
and no one can take that away from you.
[gentle music]
[crowd applauding]
[commentator] 26, the deficit for England on first innings.
So we've really got a one innings game.
Here we go then. Australia's second innings.
[upbeat music]
[Smith] Shot!
[commentator] Beautiful from Labuschagne.
That was in the slot.
Labuschagne's not missing that.
[commentator] Partnership's moved to 45.
We had them on the ropes at Headingley.
[commentator] Well, this is really well played
from Marnus Labuschagne.
I mean, we had that game, 3-nil. It's game over. Ashes over.
[commentator] Lead for Australia, 94 now.
[man] Catch that! Catch that!
[commentator] Oh, the sweep and it's in the air,
waiting underneath it, coming forward and it's taken.
Labuschagne, yet again in this series,
gets the start and departs.
[commentator] It is very hard to explain
what he was trying to do there.
[tense music]
[commentator] Labuschagne has completed
one of the slowest walks off, an international ground.
A very long time to think about what he had just done.
That moment there is probably one that's like,
you had it, you literally had it.
I mean, that really hurt us.
Marnus knows, it was just one of those
crucial parts of the game
that really just turned the tide of that whole Test Match.
When we lost that wicket they suddenly got their tails up.
[man] Catch!
[commentator] Catch is a cry. It is a catch.
What have you done, Steve Smith?
The heat has been turned up.
[Smith] Hit it!
[commentator] Tensions are running high out there.
England dragging themselves in front.
Edges! Got him! Got him!
The crowd is energised.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd booing]
[commentator] The boos are for Alex Carey.
After what happened at Lord's,
he's taking on the whole of Headingley.
[Head] To have a stand full of people booing you
and calling you everything under the sun,
there's no doubt that, yeah,
part of it would have affected him.
[crowd chanting]
'Shoes off'
'If you hate Carey'
'Shoes off'
'If you hate Carey'
[commentator] The western terrace are up
and singing their songs now.
'If you hate Carey'
'Shoes off'
'If you hate Carey'
'Shoes off'
What can you do? Nothing. So, stay focused.
You compete and do what you've been doing.
[commentator] Just to me,
looks a little bit more sheepish than I've seen him.
Oh, got him! He's dragged on.
England have another.
[commentator] A little bit of indecision
of whether to play or leave,
and England have got Australia where they want them.
Australia are all out for 224. Their lead is exactly 250.
[Cummins] Pretty frustrating.
Our second innings batting was a real opportunity
where we could have got a big lead,
and yeah, we just didn't quite score
as many as we would have liked.
[dramatic music]
[commentator] Oh, absolutely nailed it.
[Haigh] England almost couldn't believe their luck.
They had an opening and they plunged straight through it.
[commentator] Short and wide and that has been punished.
And the momentum of this series has shifted.
[Cummins] I think when they got down to about 15 to win,
it felt like, oh the ship's sailed now.
[commentator] It's gone. It's out of here.
Another big cheer goes around the ground.
One hit away, England.
It's gone up in the air. There's Carey.
Talk, talk.
[commentator] They look at each other. It goes down.
This is Boland's catch. This has to be Boland's catch.
[commentator] Hundred percent.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting]
[commentator] Three needed.
Smashed through the off-side.
Chris Woakes nails it for four.
And England go to Old Trafford, 2-1 down.
But the Ashes are live.
[Smith] Yeah, that hurt.
That was our chance to nail it and yeah,
we weren't able to do it.
[chattering]
[Whateley] The Bairstow runout changes the environment
around the series.
There was a fixation from the English cricket public
on the events of Lord's.
It was clear that Carey had been determined
public enemy number one
and the rest of his days in this Ashes series
were going to be in a cauldron.
[Khawaja] Everyone projected on Kez
and didn't project on anyone else.
It was all on Kez.
Looking back on it, I just feel so bad for him,
what he went through at that time
and what his family would have gone through
being there at that time.
It would have been so hard.
[Carey] What toy are you going to get later?
-A big one. -A big one?
-You want to do more castles? -Yeah.
[Eloise Carey] So I actually missed the whole kind of fiasco
and someone just said, "Oh, Alex got someone out."
So I was celebrating,
and then I didn't realise what happened until afterwards,
when Alex came up and said, "Oh, I think
you're going to have to manage my social media for a while,
because there's a few online haters."
[Carey] Yeah, it got a little bit nasty there for a while.
That's probably the thing that shocked me the most, the abuse.
You know, people going after you.
Personal, family, all that sort of stuff.
It mustn't be easy to deal with?
Ah, no, it's not, and I think,
I don't know, me anyway, I like to be liked.
As soon as you're not, it's like, ooh,
you know, yeah, you gotta deal with that.
One of the kindest, gentlest, humble man
you could meet and play with, so,
I really feel like it was a different sort of situation
for him to have.
[Smith] I could sense he wasn't quite right, mentally
and I can understand it.
So, yeah, I was worried about him
and his, you know, wellbeing.
[boy] Yes.
[Eloise] That's where you get your cheekiness from...
[Carey] I can't control what people say about it.
So, yeah, can you accept it and can you move on
and can you go out and play and do what you do and love?
[Haigh] Manchester is a happy hunting ground for England.
Australia knew they were going to be under pressure there,
and there were sufficient doubts
about the composition of the Australian side
that lent things an air of disquiet.
[Murphy] Greeny was coming back. Mitch had just made a hundred.
But there's sort of that history around Old Trafford
and suiting spinners.
So yeah, I was still really hopeful that
I'd get another opportunity.
Might be similar to last week.
What do you reckon?
It felt like you had 12 players trying to fit into 11.
If you get on the wrong side of the toss
and this ends up being a road...
Do we go,
"Jeez, we would have loved to have Murph there."
[Cummins] Really it came into, does Greeny come in for a bowler
and if so, kind of which bowler?
[Cummins] No, it's good, yeah.
Don't feel you did anything wrong,
or need to change anything. It's purely...
Yeah, that's alright. It's circumstances.
[Cummins] We're going to chat today about the teams.
[Murphy] Yeah.
[Cummins] And we'll see how we go and let you know.
-Today or tomorrow. -Yeah.
Um, but there's still two tests left,
so even if it's not this one,
we're going to have a chat about it.
[Murphy] Yeah, it was obviously disappointing.
Like, I really wanted to be a part of that game, and
I suppose deep down you want to be
the man to try and help Australia win a Test Match,
and you believe you can do that so...
To miss out and know you don't get that opportunity
probably hurts the most.
[gentle music]
[Haigh] Headingley was a chaotic Test Match
and chaos suited England.
Australia kind of lost touch with their battle plan
in those circumstances.
[Cummins] How do you,
and I think this is a team effort, but again,
I don't think we've been awesome at locking in us bowlers.
Like, I feel like sometimes the bowlers are a bit cluttered.
Maybe that's what we needed today and get to them.
Because it feels like six to eight,
then we'll go a bouncer, and they get away,
and then it's like, oh he backed away,
maybe we go stumps, and then...
[McDonald] Well I think we're getting caught up in
the pace they want to play at.
It's been frantic.
Like, they're just, they're flying in directions
that we haven't encountered before so,
the new information probably stimulates people to the point
where it's like, "What do we do now, what do we do now?"
[Cummins] And I think Smudger,
that's a role for the fielders as well, it's like,
even if everyone doesn't completely agree,
just buy in, like, for that little passage
and we can talk about different plans but,
whatever we commit to for that little bit,
we just all buy in, give it a crack.
[commentator] From Leeds to Manchester,
England looking to win and go 2-all.
Australia looking to get the job done
and to retain the Ashes.
[Whateley] England felt they had serious momentum
heading towards Old Trafford.
They were down 2-1 in the series,
but Bazball was starting to prevail.
[commentator] And England have bowled Australia out for 317.
Australia, they'll be a bit disappointed.
All eyes will be on England's batters now.
How will they play?
They play in attacking mode anyway.
Will it be ultra-positive?
Punches this one to mid-wicket, and Harris can't get there.
[Khawaja] The way they came out and batted, I was like, phoar.
[Lalor] This was quintessential Bazball batting.
[commentator] The crowd are absolutely loving this.
Crawley's after the Aussies.
It was like this tsunami.
And there was just nowhere safe to bowl.
[commentator] They cannot stem the flow of runs, Australia.
[Starc] It was the first time they'd gotten away
as a whole batting group.
[commentator] That is Joe Root. 200 comes up.
Everything was happening so quickly and
they were scoring so fast and it was getting away from us.
[commentator] England's run rate has been incredible.
[Bhogle] For them to score at that rate over that duration,
means you've driven the bowlers to hopelessness,
and that is something you don't do with Australia too often.
[commentator] Serious problems for Australia.
[commentator] Well, right now,
the confusion in Pat Cummins' mind is
are we going to try and get wickets now,
or are we just going to try and stem the flow of runs?
[Smith] We were probably just slightly off planning,
slightly off execution, and those two combined...
You're going to get hurt.
[commentator] Australia
just cannot think clearly at the minute.
Have you seen an Australian side look this devoid of ideas?
[Labuschagne] Probably one of my least favourite days
in the field.
Yeah, it just wasn't great. It wasn't great.
[commentator] They've just been put to the sword this afternoon.
Cummins and McDonald, the coach, between them at tea time
will have to come up with a strategy.
Try and get back into this game.
[McDonald] It feels like it's going to be a little bit of
batter error to get them out,
so what's the best field for that?
It feels too flat to try and gauge the runs.
It's not like the other games.
[Smith] Can you go like a one day field?
Slip, like a backward point, third man, deep, like point.
Just a bit more traditional one day field.
[McDonald] We've got to get a breakthrough,
there's no doubt about that.
But we can't let the scoreboard run and that's the fine balance.
[Cummins] No, hundred percent.
[commentator] Down the pitch. Down the ground.
Real intent now from Crawley.
300 for 2.
[commentator] The crowd are right up for England here.
[commentator] And a lot of pressure on Pat Cummins.
[Cummins] So it can get busy out there on the field.
Yeah, never really short of ideas.
[Hazlewood] There's a few ideas floating around.
They pretty much go directly to him,
which I guess can wear thin sometimes.
The rest of the guys feel free to have a bowl if you want.
It's not easy.
[commentator] And now he drives. Stokes on the move.
[commentator] Often when you look down on an Australian side,
historically, you know who the captain is,
whether it be Taylor, Border, Ponting, Waugh.
You look down today and there have been a lot of cricketers
waving their arms around.
[commentator] It resembled almost like a school team.
[Cummins] Marnus always has ideas,
Smithy's always waving his arms around at first slip.
I offer advice all the time.
It's just whether we want to use it or, you know,
and that's up to the captain to make that decision ultimately.
[commentator] And he's smashed that for four.
400 up for England.
[Labuschagne] Creatively I think we could have
just tried more things.
Tried different stuff at different times and,
if it didn't work, I mean,
I don't think we were any worse off than we would have been.
[commentator] That's almost out of the ground.
Gee, he's hit that well.
[commentator] England bring up their 500.
[Labuschagne] Changing it up, you know,
setting a really obscure field or,
doing something really different.
[commentator] Oh my word, that's the best of all of them.
[Smith] Yeah, I think at times we probably allowed them
to play better than they could have done.
Sometimes you can't create something out of nothing.
But yeah, it's not nice when you're sitting there going,
"Yeah we, we were totally outplayed there."
[commentator] So all the work's been done by England.
Fantastic batting performance.
592! 275 run lead.
[commentator] That was quite something to watch.
So it's hard to, it's hard to like...
I can give you my own views what I would have done,
but that's, I can't, like, yeah...
Enough said.
[players chattering]
[commentator] Two days left. England need six wickets
and they still have a second innings.
[Labuschagne] We can't win. You know, it's just straight up.
We can't win, right? There's no way.
[Lalor] Marnus had been a little disappointing this series.
We expected him to pick up where he left off in 2019.
But it hadn't really come off for him.
[Labuschagne] We should have won at Headingley.
I literally lost us the game.
It eats you away for the next week
and then you have to come back the next Test
and try and rectify your mistakes.
[men yelling] No run! No run! No run!
[commentator] Australia trailing by a long, long way.
[Mitchell] Australia could not win.
But what they couldn't afford to do is lose
and allow England to make it 2-all.
[commentator] Marnus Labuschagne walks to the middle.
He will feel that he owes his team a big innings.
It was purely just about survival.
We basically just had to bat for as long as possible.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Good solid block.
England were in for the kill on day four.
[commentator] And a good leave.
[Whateley] Marnus Labuschagne stands in the way of it.
[commentator] Smashed into Labuschagne's bottom hand.
Crowd trying to get behind Mark Wood now.
They've seen that speed come up.
[Labuschagne] It's not about my personal frustration or struggle
with how I've performed.
I've got a job to do.
I've got to make sure I steer us to safety here.
Shot!
[Labuschagne] You've got to want it.
You've got to want the challenge.
Yes, it's hard.
Yes, when Mark Wood's charging in,
bowling 150 and it's dark, it's hard.
[man] Spin.
[commentator] The light is too bad for express pace.
Moeen Ali and Joe Root both are very, very capable spinners.
[commentator] Yeah, and Moeen Ali's got Labuschagne out
twice in the last two innings, so it is definitely an option.
Ooh!
[commentator] Well there's one that jumps out of the rough.
[Mitchell] So suddenly, it did feel like
there was this energy out in the middle.
-[man] Come on, Evo. -[man] Come on, boys!
[Mitchell] It was a bit of a now or never moment
with the Ashes on the line.
[commentator] Oh and it goes down the pitch
and hits him high, hard and handsome.
[Labuschagne] I saw this as an opportunity.
It was just trying to shift the pressure because at that stage,
the pressure was on us.
[commentator] Down he goes again.
That is a lovely shot from Labuschagne
and he's into the nineties.
[Labuschagne] You want to play the innings
that defines a series.
If you don't want that pressure, if you don't want that,
then the big stage isn't for you.
[man] Oh!
[commentator] Labuschagne scampers through
and it's a hundred.
He's struggled to find his best form.
He started to come good at Headingley,
gifted his wicket away there.
But it's a very, very good hundred.
[Marsh] To see him sort of work so hard
for the first three Test Matches, not get rewarded,
not get rewarded and then to finally pull through,
that's what the best players in the world do.
The way him and Mitchie both batted was awesome.
It really just said,
"No, this game's not won yet. We're here to play."
I'm really proud of this innings,
but how much it means only depends on the result.
[commentator] It is raining again.
It could be an exceptionally frustrating day
for every England supporter and all the England players,
but we just have to wait and see.
[Agnew] The fifth day consisted of rain radars,
weather forecasts
and just a sort of air of inevitability, really.
[Cummins] What does it look like this morning, do you reckon?
It's just going to be showers all day.
It hasn't stopped and it's not going to stop.
This is going to continue for a while.
[Whateley] Australia holds the Ashes and the way this works is
to be the champ, you have to beat the champ.
England has to win the series.
So the stakes with Old Trafford is
if Australia draws the Test Match, they retain the trophy.
-Done? -We've called it.
-Congrats. -Thank you.
Cheers, thank you. Cheers.
[crowd cheering]
[Whateley] And so the Ashes were retained.
[players chattering]
[Lalor] Australia had retained the Ashes.
They couldn't be taken away.
They'd set themselves up to possibly win the series.
[Cummins] Yeah, it was kind of weird.
It was okay, good to have that.
That's ours now, but...
Really, we still haven't played our best.
We wanted to win it, so we knew we needed one more big push.
Well done on the retention, but the job's still not quite done.
We've got a one-off game at The Oval,
which is where we fronted up for the World Test Championship.
We've got an opportunity to win the Ashes,
so well done for giving yourself that opportunity.
[Smith] It's a long tour away, you know,
with six Test Matches as well in two months.
[Boland] It's hard.
Having the family there
really takes your mind off cricket the whole time,
which is, you know, it's good.
It makes the tour go a lot quicker.
[girl] Daddy...
[Cummins] Yeah, it's, it's awesome at the moment,
in that there's so many kids around.
-[baby exclaims] -[woman] Hello!
[chattering]
[boy] Get it!
[Labuschagne] We've shifted into a different stage of,
of our lives where,
I don't want to say cricket's taken a backseat,
but I certainly feel like the importance of being a father,
um, has probably helped my cricket
or helped my perspective on life.
[Starc] It's not lost on us that a lot of us
are closer to the end than the start.
We've still got an opportunity to win the series.
There's still so much to play for.
Yes?
[Becky Cummins] Give Daddy a big hug.
Where're we going? Inside? Come on.
[Cummins] We got one Test. Here's our chance to,
you know, show everyone how good we are.
[Labuschagne] It felt like we probably lost
just a little bit of momentum.
We got outplayed at Manchester.
[Khawaja] They were just bullying us.
I haven't seen anything like that in Test cricket
for a long time, particularly against our bowlers.
[Cummins] I felt like that was time to get together,
say anything that needs to be said
and then just be all focused in for that last Test.
[McDonald] Just want to have an open discussion around
are we committed to what we set out to achieve?
Do we need to pivot?
Going into this last game, what does it look like for us?
[Membery] We've just got a couple of questions
up on the board that we thought would be, like,
a timely check-in.
We've got 'calm and connected',
and that's sort of something we've talked about
on and off the pitch.
And there is times where we may see it fluctuate,
particularly on the field when
stress and chaos does come up.
So I'm really keen for the thoughts on 'calm'
and what you guys have seen as well.
[Cummins] When I think of calmness,
I reckon I think of clear thinking,
and I reckon I wasn't at my best last game.
So that's definitely something
I've got to try and improve for this game.
[Carey] How are you feeling with the amount of messages
that are coming to you on the field?
In terms of out there,
yeah I think it does get busy at times.
Unless something's really big that we need to shift,
I'd like to just give that plan a decent chance.
Just trust that the bowlers are really well planned.
And I think the big one that I need from everyone as well is
whichever way we go, whatever decision's made,
we buy in and we just go for it.
You know, just trust your teammates at all times so,
thanks for that.
[McDonald] So we've done some amazing things.
Going into this game, we are a better team than them.
We have a higher skill level
and there's some legends of the game sitting in this room.
We've got the capabilities.
I'm not too sure
there's many teams that can go toe-to-toe with that.
Go and make some history.
[commentator] We go again for one last time
in this wonderful Ashes series of 2023.
Ashes retained by Australia.
They are looking to win the series
for the first time since 2001.
[Agnew] And there's a large number of players
in that team who won't come back.
You know, The Oval Test
is their chance to go home as Ashes winners.
[commentator] They're doing it again, these two.
They're off to a flying start.
[Lalor] If Pat Cummins' side can win an away Ashes
they write themselves among
the great cricket teams in Australian history.
[commentator] Bowled him!
What a beauty.
[commentator] Carey puts it down this time.
[Whateley] The mission here was to win a series in England
and do something that hadn't been achieved
for more than two decades.
[commentator] Lots of small partnerships.
Not much between the two sides.
[Whateley] For all that this team wanted to be,
it was on the line for them at The Oval.
[commentator] Oh, beautifully timed that.
That strike rate is astonishing.
England, it has been their day.
[commentator] So much to play for
in this fifth and final Test.
[commentator] England leading by 383.
Could very well be curtains for the Aussies.
[commentator] The fourth day of the fifth Test at the Kia Oval.
[Mitchell] This series is well and truly on the line
for both teams.
Australia, well they want to go home 3-1.
[Smith] A couple of good partnerships in The Oval,
you can score very quickly,
so the game was still well and truly within our grasp.
[Cummins] It's not going to be easy but,
if we're going to bat to our potential,
we'll chase this down.
[commentator] A record run chase in front of them.
[crowd groaning]
[commentator] Beautifully played by David Warner.
[Khawaja] You've got a target.
You've got ten wickets.
There's nothing more simpler than that.
[Starc] The guys just clicked in that fourth innings
and the changeroom felt that momentum
and just like, we're on track here.
The boys were just in total control of every single ball.
[commentator] Excellent batting.
It was great.
[commentator] And that will be 100 for Australia.
[crowd cheering]
[Khawaja] We got to about like 120
and it was the first time I thought,
we're going to chase this.
[crowd groaning]
[commentator] So the doc will come out.
He'll have a concussion test.
[commentator] I've noticed the umpire is looking at
a part of the seam there
that had a bit of a indentation in it,
probably from the helmet
and they're going to actually change the ball.
[commentator] Surely that's just natural damage that's happened,
part of the game, isn't it?
I'm like, fine, alright, they've changed the ball.
We'll just get through the first few overs.
Should be fine. Everything business as usual.
[man] Yes!
[Khawaja] And I'm like, my God, that ball swung massive.
That ball felt hard. What is that thing?
[man] Yes!
[tense music]
[commentator] You can see that's really pinged off the bat, that.
I was worried, and then the rain came.
[Whateley] There was a hint that the ball
was going to change the circumstances,
but no one saw it for long enough,
and so the mystery was
how substantial was that change going to prove?
[man] Well done.
[Smith] Nice hard ball, though.
[Khawaja] Oh, it's hard, but it's swinging too.
[Smith] Was it?
We've got that bounce.
It got bounce back in it.
[gentle music]
[dog barking]
-[Lyon] What are we having, Em? -[Emma] Cous cous.
-Just cous cous? -Yeah.
[Lyon] Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice.
[Lyon] It's a totally different view,
and you're obviously taken out of it as well and I don't know,
I tried to remove the baggy green from my head
just to watch it as a cricket lover but,
that wasn't happening.
[Emma] This is actually the first time
I've ever watched cricket with Nathan, like Test cricket.
Usually I'm watching him, so like sitting here...
Um...
Him on the couch watching with me,
it's like a totally different experience.
[Lyon] Yeah, it's been pretty challenging
because you think about it,
since 2011, before I come home, there was 126 Test Matches
that I've been a part of
and haven't watched one at home, so...
I just want the guys to perform well.
They deserve it.
[commentator on TV] All to play for. 249, Australia need to win.
10 wickets, England need to win.
It is set up beautifully.
[Big Ben striking]
[Boland] I remember waking up on day five
thinking we've got a really good opportunity to go 3-1 up.
[Labuschagne] I felt like we were favourites, no doubt.
We need 250 to win, 10 down.
[Khawaja] It's a new ball,
so we just have to be mindful of the first five, ten overs
of how it plays. Overcast conditions.
It felt harder than the ball they started off with yesterday.
[Khawaja] I said, "Guys, I've only faced an over and a half
and I'm telling you it's reacting so different,
and it's almost a brand new ball they've given them."
And everyone was like,
"Oh yeah, whatever, it'll get soft, it'll soften."
I went, "Yep."
But in my head all through that morning,
I'm like, man, I'm worried about this ball.
[commentator] The Oval, the Ashes,
the final Test Match of the summer.
Will it be 2-all, will it be 3-1?
We shall see.
[Labuschagne] It was like a fresh start, new ball.
And it was a different game.
[crowd groaning]
[commentator] A bit of an example there
of the hardness as well.
That one's bounced a little bit more.
Tom, just keep the information coming
after a couple, if there's anything.
If there's anything?
Just with the change of ball and the conditions.
-[Smith] Please! -Please.
Hadn't finished asking the question yet mate.
Yes you had, that's a lie.
[Labuschagne] It was pretty clear
from the data sitting up top
that the conditions changed dramatically.
It went to like negative .02 degrees
to 2 degrees of swing, which is massive.
This ball's just from another planet.
It was like it had a mind of its own.
And I'm just like praying like, let's just get through it.
Please, the ball just gets soft after five overs,
ten overs, like it has the whole series, and it just did not.
I think we could all see clearly from the cameras off the ground
that the ball looked entirely different.
[Mitchell] The idea is you pick a ball
that's of similar age to the one that's been discarded.
Now you don't always have an exact match
and in this particular instance
it didn't feel like it was close to being an exact match.
What?
They're talking about this ball, to that ball.
[commentator] There's no way in the world
you can even look at those two balls there
and say in any way are they comparable.
[laughing]
[Smith] Look at that!
They're not even close to alike.
[man] Catch it!
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] And they have their first
and it's David Warner.
Excellent from England this morning.
Fucking hit the top of the fucking shoulder.
[Warner] Fucking 41 fucking overs.
That fucking ball's brand fucking new, mate.
Jesus.
[all] Out!
[commentator] Another wicket. Both openers have gone.
[Starc] It halted our momentum when the ball changed
and we weren't good enough or quick enough to adapt to that.
[Khawaja] Fucking ball!
England used that ball well.
[man] Catch it!
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Three wickets now in the opening hour.
Three big ones, Warner, Khawaja and now Labuschagne.
[Lyon exclaiming]
[commentator] Travis Head comes to the middle.
There is movement in the air and off the pitch
and it is a very different game.
I was over the moon about it.
-[people exclaiming] -[commentator] Shot!
Get onto it. Go, go! Get on.
[Head] England had been bowling bouncers for the whole series.
Seeing the ball change
and seeing the ball swing, they weren't going to bounce me.
Here's a chance to get in the game.
[Head] Yep! Yep!
[Mitchell] If anyone could take on quick bowling,
play with aggression, up the strike rate,
it's Travis Head.
[Boland] Heady went through a stage of like six balls,
where he hit four fours and we're like,
oh we're back on now.
[commentator] He brings up the 200.
[man] Good boy.
[Head] I'd finally got to a stage in the series
where I could make an impact
and impact how I wanted to make it.
[Head] Yep!
Yeah, enjoyable.
[commentator] The Australian crowd,
just really on the edge of their seats
as to whether this partnership
could extend and extend and extend.
Come on!
[man] Catch!
[crowd roaring]
That's not out.
I feel like Ben knew that he'd dropped it.
[Mitchell] In the celebration, the ball has been dislodged.
-[man] Call out! -[man] It's out.
[Head] It was pretty chaos.
There was blokes yelling everywhere.
They're talking him into it.
[commentator] What are they checking here?
-You reckon? -Let's review it. It's out.
[commentator] And he's gonna check.
[Third Umpire] England review.
He definitely hit it.
Yeah, Stokesy wasn't worried about that, I don't reckon.
[Warner] Yeah, but Smudge has definitely hit it.
[crowd cheering]
Top of the pad?
Nah, it was off his glove.
Smudge was about to walk.
-Yeah. -[crowd cheering]
That's not the bit though.
Now watch the catch.
[Third Umpire] Yes please, I want to see
the condition of the catch.
Yeah, I know!
He's dropped it. He dropped it. That's not out.
-He's not in control. -Ball's not in.
He's not in control of the ball.
Bad luck. Bad luck.
[Third Umpire] He's dropped the ball. He has dropped the ball.
He knew it straight away, that's why he didn't refer it.
[Warner] Can't be out.
[commentator] And not out.
[crowd booing]
[commentator] Initially, it was clean by Ben Stokes,
and in the celebration, the hand has come down and hit his thigh.
The ball has been dislodged,
and so it's been adjudged that he was not in control.
It's alright, mate.
There you go, it's not out. Don't worry about it.
Karma gets ya. Karma gets ya.
Mother cricket doesn't lie.
[commentator] This discussion is about the review,
whether or not they lose the review.
Can't complain now, spirit of cricket.
What are they blowing up about now?
[commentator] Joel Wilson called it not out.
England reviewed, it stayed not out.
Ben Stokes feels as if
he shouldn't be losing a review because of it.
And lunch will be full of discussion from both teams.
[crowd applauding]
[man] Good work, Heady!
[players applauding]
[Smith] Hey boys.
[Warner] What was Stokesy saying?
No, they were saying, blowing up how they lost their review,
and I was like, "No, that's fair enough,
I agree that you shouldn't lose your review."
[Warner] Why? They reviewed, though.
So I'm saying, I'm saying,
that they shouldn't be penalised for a review.
[Labuschagne] No, they should have.
They should have, because they gave it not out.
I disagree.
[McDonald] But you challenged the umpire.
No, because...
What about those ones that are close to the ground?
Do you think you should deserve to lose your review there?
The umpire didn't review that one, the catch.
So they challenged the umpire's decision,
because he gave it not out.
Whose team are we on in here?
-That's just my opinion. -[Labuschagne] It's wrong.
[Cummins] It was so obvious that that wasn't out.
[Smith] That's why Stokesy didn't go up.
And then I asked him, I said,
"Here's your chance, buddy, spirit of cricket."
And he's like,
"I've told, told them that it's the third umpire's decision.
So, if he gave me out, I was out."
So...
[Smith] I'm kind of on their side in a way.
Smudgey. Smudgey...
We did the exact same thing with Jonny's decision.
We left it up to the third umpire.
[Labuschagne] Don't worry, we're in the same boat here.
[man] Go boys!
[thunder rumbling]
[commentator] This second session is all set up.
Australia still needing 146. England at 7 wickets.
Strap yourselves in.
[Whateley] The trickiest period seemed to have been negotiated
and Head and Smith had soared at this ground
six weeks earlier.
These are the two guys
that made 100 in the World Test Championship,
and that legacy moment of winning the series in England,
it is within their grasp.
[Head] I was set
and the scoreboard was slowly ticking along, slowly moving.
Smithy felt like he was in really good touch.
We were so close, I could feel it.
[commentator] Beautiful hands and just timed for four.
We had full belief that we could get home, definitely.
[commentator] Lovely shot.
[Smith] Winning the series is in the back of your mind.
[commentator] 50 for Steve Smith.
He's having a very good final match.
Very important runs.
It was a partnership that was developing
and frustrating England.
[commentator] 120 needed.
[commentator] It'll be a run chase for the ages.
[commentator] You can get on a roll in these conditions.
[man] Yes!
[commentator] Oh, he's got him. Has he got him?
Yeah he has.
Moeen Ali has got Travis Head. A vital wicket.
[commentator] And that is a pivotal breakthrough.
Oh, fucking hell.
[Head] Disappointed.
Feeling like I'd left Smithy at the other end.
The whole innings was about
making sure I could just tick away with him.
But I felt like we were going to win the game
if he was out there.
[man] Catch!
[commentator] Edged, and through to that guy there.
He does not drop them, Zak Crawley.
[commentator] Smith goes for a well made 54.
274 for 5.
That is a massive breakthrough for England.
[man] Catch!
[commentator] Marsh is walking! He hasn't even looked up!
Three wickets on the trot.
Yeah, then it just got tough.
[commentator] Oh yeah, they're just falling like dominoes
here at The Oval.
[Cummins] You start thinking
it's going to be pretty hard to win this.
Yeah, it was starting to slip away.
[man] Catch, catch!
[commentator] Oh, that's out.
[commentator] Ben Stokes has taken the catch.
Just pretty flattening, like, pretty frustrating.
[commentator] Australia need 85, England 2 wickets.
Edged! Gone!
[crowd roaring]
[Cummins] Cricket's such a tension of
so many different things.
[Labuschagne] Cricket is a game of small margins.
You can feel like you're on top and it can flip in a second.
[commentator] One wicket remaining for England.
Everyone is on the edge of their seat here at The Oval.
[Khawaja] It's why we love Test cricket,
because every time you think you're ahead of the game,
[snaps fingers]
that moment happens.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Gone!
604 and final Test wicket for Stuart Broad.
All of The Oval, all of England rise.
Well done Stuart Broad.
[commentator on TV] Well done England.
Magnificent scenes here at The Oval.
England win by 49 runs.
[Lyon] I know we haven't won a series there,
but when we've gone to England, we've competed.
But if I'm being honest
I probably feel like we've left something there.
[commentator] England come back from 2-nil down
to make it 2-all.
[Labuschagne] It's probably a fair reflection of...
Probably not how I would see both sides.
I think we're still the better team
and I think we still should have won.
[commentator] An amazing, amazing Test Match series.
Two fabulous sides. Not seen many better.
[Smith] Disappointing, is the word for me.
I feel like there's still unfinished business,
I suppose, for this group.
[Khawaja] We won the World Test Championship
and we retained the Ashes.
An unbelievable achievement.
[Haigh] They'll never do it harder than this.
England were bloody good.
[commentator] And the celebrations begin.
Australia retain the Ashes.
[Cummins] I'm incredibly proud of what we achieved.
But the competitor in me is still a little bit like,
oh, we left a little bit out there.
[crowd applauding]
[Lalor] In terms of legacy,
winning the World Test Championship
and retaining the Ashes, marks Pat Cummins' Australians
as not necessarily a great cricket team yet,
but a very good one.
Yeah, well done, mate. All the best.
See ya, bro.
[Whateley] The legacy here
isn't quite what Australia set out to achieve,
to be the team that wins the Ashes in England,
and a guarantee of greatness that that provides.
The legacy is in the series.
It's for Test cricket
and these players will forever be linked to a series
that will live in the imaginations
for years to come.
[Khawaja] I reckon there'll be kids in the future
talking about 2023 Ashes
because it had absolutely everything.
At the end of the day, I have no doubt,
cricket was the winner.
[commentator on TV] What a series we've had.
Australia retain the Ashes, but it finishes 2-2.
[Lyon] That's that.
[upbeat music]