Broad gets winning send-off as England beat Aussies by 49 runs, draw series 2-2

Veteran fastbowler Stuart Broad got his perfect fairytale ending to a glorious cricketing career by picking the last two wickets as England beat Australia by 49 runs in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on Monday to level an enthralling series 22Resuming from 135 for no loss Australia were going great guns with all ten wickets in hand before a ball change in the 37th over took their top three batters out Steve Smith and Travis Head led Australiarsquos recovery before the rain came inAfter the twohour rain break ended Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali blew Australia away as four wickets fell for only 11 runs Todd Murphy and Alex Carey frustrated England for a brief period as Australia went from 264 for three to 294 for 8To get some luck on his side Broad swapped bails around at the bowlerrsquos end and got the last two wickets in Murphy and Carey to sign off from the sport on a high as Australia were bowled out for 334 With the riveting win at The Oval England levelled the series after being 20 down though Australia had already retained the AshesAlso Read When Broad got going against IndiaAustralia resumed Day Five with 249 more runs needed for victory with Usman Khawaja and David Warner already gone past their halfcenturies But the replacement ball called after Mark Wood hit Khawaja on the helmet with a bouncer on the first delivery of the 37th over began to offer plenty of movement helping England make inroadsWoakes began by getting Warner for 60 with a good length ball angled across and was caught safely by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow Khawaja soon followed him back to the pavilion for 72 with Woakes trapping him lbw with a fullerlength deliveryMarnus Labuschagne could not last long as he edged a Wood delivery straight into the hands of Zak Crawley standing low at the second slip Smith joined Head to embark on a muchneeded 95run partnership for the visitorsThe pair played some brilliant strokes against the English pacers and Head even survived a shortball barrage with Australia heading to lunch at 238 for three needing a further 146 runsSmith though survived a close call on the stroke on lunch as he gloved a delivery to Stokes at leg gully off Ali but replays showed that the catch was not clean and the fielder was not in full control of the catchJust as players walked out for the second session they went back due to rain which threatened to play spoilsport yet again The play would finally resume at 420 pm local time with a marathon deciding session aheadSmith brought up his fifty but the 95run stand finally came to an end when Ali got one to spin sharply from round the wicket inciting an edge from Head to slip The lefthanded batter fell for 43 with Australia still needing another 120 runs to winWoakes would then dismiss Smith for 54 with a backofthelength delivery squaring him up and a second slip doing the rest Ali also struck again dismissing Mitchell Marsh for six as Bairstow stuck out his right hand to complete a superb catchThe packed crowd erupted more in support of the home side as Woakes struck again to send Mitchell Starc packing for a duck Moeen would scalp his third as a big heave from skipper Pat Cummins brought about his downfall at nine with Stokes completing the catch very well to his left at legslipBroad then got into the act with a brilliant delivery to get an edge off Murphy who was gone for 18 Broad would have the perfect ending dismissing Carey for 28 with Bairstow taking a safe catch to end with 604 Test wickets as England won by 49 runs to level the Ashes 22Brief scoresEngland 283 amp 395 beat Australia 295 amp 334 all out in 944 overs Usman Khawaja 72 David Warner 60 Chris Woakes 450 Moeen Ali 376 by 49 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever