Ashes Series Ends In A Draw For The 1st Time In 47 Years

Despite a fighting hundred by Matthew Wade, Australia couldn’t save the final Ashes Test held at Kennington Oval, London. In pursuit of 399-run target, Australia fell short by 135 runs in the final innings and thus, the series ended in a 2-2 draw. It happened for the first time in 47 years that the Men's Ashes has ended in a draw. The last series which ended as a draw between England and Australia was in 1972. The series was hosted by England. Ever since the start of this century, both England and Australia have managed to win the urn five times each. Despite losing the Test, Australia managed to retain the Ashes as they had won the last series Down Under in the 2017/18 season. Former skipper Steve Smith was given Australia's Man of the Series award whereas Ben Stokes was handed England's Man of the Series award. Smith had an exceptional series with the bat as he scored 774 runs, scoring the most number of runs in a series this century. On the other hand, Ben Stokes displayed an all-round performance, scoring 440 runs with the bat and taking eight wickets with the ball. The first Test of the series was won by Australia by 251 runs at Birmingham. The second match at Lord's finished as a draw and Stokes's heroics in the third Test at Headingley helped England level the series at 1-1. However, Australia came back strongly in the fourth Test as they won the match by 185 runs to retain the Ashes. The team from Down Under will next face Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series whereas England will take on New Zealand in a five-match T20I series and two-match Test series.