The Fifth Test of the 1948 Ashes series was held at The Oval in London. Australia won the match by an innings and 149 runs to complete a 4–0 series win. It was the last Test in the career of Australian captain Donald Bradman.
About Fifth Test, 1948 Ashes series in brief
The Fifth Test of the 1948 Ashes series was held at The Oval in London. Australia won the match by an innings and 149 runs to complete a 4–0 series win. It was the last Test in the career of Australian captain Donald Bradman, generally regarded as the best batsman in the history of the sport. After the first four Tests, Australia led the series 3–0, having won all but the Third Test, which was rain-affected. England made four changes to their team, with John Dewes replacing Cyril Washbrook at the top of the order. The match was followed by speeches from both captains, after which the crowd sang \”For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow\” in Bradman’s honour. Australia had been unbeaten throughout the tour. Between the Fourth and Fifth Test, they played five tour matches. The Australians then defeated Warwickshire by nine wickets, before drawing with Lancashire, who hung on with three wickets in hand on the final day. Australia’s final lead-in outing was a two-day non-first-class match against Durham,which was drawn after rain washed out the second day. England reached 541 at stumps and by lunch on the third day were 1212, with Len Hutton and Denis Compton batting steadily. However, they suffered a late collapse to be 1787 when bad light and rain stopped the day’s play. The next morning, Bill Johnston took the last three wicket as England were bowled out for 188, ending the match.
Australia’s opening pair of Arthur Morris and Sid Barnes passed England’s score on the same afternoon with no loss of wickets. The Australians maintained their streak in the remaining fixtures, gaining them the sobriquet of The Invincibles. They had taken an unlikely win in the Fourth Test at Headingley, scoring 4043 in their second innings, the highest ever score in a successful Test runchase. In all, they had used 21 players for the series and were severely criticised for failing to maintain continuity. The journalist and former Australian Test cricketer Bill O’Reilly condemned the decision, claiming that Dewes was too reliant on defending the ball and that asking him to face the Australians could have psychologically scarred him. He said Dewes had scored less than 40 runs in three weeks between the Test matches and made three consecutive scores below 40 for the leading leading side and that he was not ready for Test cricket. He also claimed that the selection of Dewes for the Test side was tantamount to asking a rampant side to face him with a horizontal leg side with a scarred face and that the decision to pick him was a ‘tantamount to a tantrum’ The match took place on 14–18 August, with a rest day on 15 August. It was Australia’s last Test before the Second Test at Lord’s, which took place the following day. The Test was won by Australia by a single wicket.
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