With Australia needing an extra 249 runs, and with all ten wickets intact, have the prospect to finish a rare runchase and seal an emphatic 3-1 sequence victory.
As the Guardian’s Barney Ronay writes: “it was always coming down to this”.
“One day left to save the English Ashes summer; and to save a few other things too,” he famous.
But the choice by Stuart Broad to hijack the ultimate two days of the Test, along with his mid-match announcement that it might be his final, was additionally famous as a curious one.
“Was this the right stuff, really, for the sharp end of the series, the guard of honour energy, the weirdly sensual and sombre Sky TV homages?” Ronay mused.
“Why not just retire the day after the series ends?
“It is hard to imagine a more distracting way of doing this, a day of potentially era-defining Test cricket recast as the launch of a new media brand.
“There will be cries that one of England’s great Test bowlers needs a chance to wave goodbye.
“But why? This is not the Love Island finale. It’s a brilliantly engaging Test series with a knife-edge finish to come.
“Spare us the Viking funeral, just for now.”
Originally printed as Ashes cricket 2023: Australia v England day 5 stay protection, stream, the way to watch, scoreboard
Source: www.news.com.au
