Stuart Broad has taken the final wicket as England beat Australia by 49 runs in the fifth Test to level the Ashes series.
For large parts of the final day of a classic five-Test duel, Australia looked in firm control either to win with wickets to spare or bat out the game and take the series by a 2-1 scoreline.
However, England produced an epic comeback after a rain delay that will go down in Ashes folklore, with Australia going from 264-3 to 334 all out in the space of 21.1 captivating overs.
Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali took centre stage late in the afternoon before Broad was given the ball for one final time, with the retiring 37-year-old taking wickets 613 and 614 in the Test arena to cement his status as one of the greatest pace bowlers in the history of the game.
UNBELIEVABLE!! HE'S DONE IT!!!
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 31, 2023
Stuart Broad gets his fairytale ending! ✨ pic.twitter.com/jwbjGlxpZC
Australia had started the day on 135-0, Usman Khawaja (72) and David Warner (60) looking in firm control, but that soon became 141-2 as Woakes got England up and running.
Mark Wood also got in on the act, dismissing Marnus Labuschagne for 13, yet a potential turning point in the game came shortly before lunch as Ben Stokes dropped a catch to dismiss Steven Smith, with the England skipper fumbling the ball in celebration and rightly being deemed to have not been in control.
Smith (54) and Travis Head (43) ultimately put on 95 for the fourth wicket, taking Australia to within 121 of a 3-1 series win, but Moeen taking the wicket of the latter acted as the catalyst for a quite astounding comeback.
Ben Stokes has DROPPED it?! 🫣
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 31, 2023
How significant could this moment be? 😬 pic.twitter.com/csCL2zQC7H
Within three overs, Australia went from 264-3 to 275-7, four wickets falling in successive overs as Woakes joined his Warwickshire teammate in tearing through the Australian middle order.
Jonny Bairstow took a sharp one-handed catch to dismiss Mitchell Marsh (6), going some way to redeeming myself for the missed chances in the early part of the series, and Moeen then took the wicket of Pat Cummins (9) to leave England two away.
To Australia's credit, they battled on gamely, with Todd Murphy (18) edging his side nearing to their target and Alex Carey making a confidence-boosting 28 after a spell of poor form.
Nevertheless, neither of them could deny Broad one of the crowning moments of his career, with Murphy edging through to Bairstow before Carey fell the same way less than four overs later to see one of the most compelling Ashes series in recent memory end as a draw, with Australia retaining the urn but failing to win a series in England for the first time since 2001.
Darren Plant
