Ashes drawn 2-2 as Australia bring the Urn home

Hyderabad: England defeated Australia by 135 runs in the fifth and final Test at the Oval on Sunday as the Ashes was drawn at 2-2. Although there was no ultimate winner, Australia retained the Urn as they had won the last Ashes in Australia as well.

England lost the toss and was sent in to bat by Tim Paine as the openers looked to start off well against the Aussies.

Rory Burns looked in great form scoring 47 runs alongside Captain Joe Root whereas Joe Denly fell early.

Mitchell Marsh picked 5 wickets in his comeback test as Jos Buttler showed some grit with the tail-enders scoring 70 runs. The Englishmen were bowled out for 294 runs in their first innings.

Australia came out to bat as Jofra Archer and Sam Curran ran through the Australian batting line up sharing 9 wickets amongst them. Jofra Archer picked up his second 5 wicket haul in his debut series as Steve Smith top-scored with 80 runs as Marnus Labuschgane assisted him and garnered 48 runs. Australia bundled out for 225 runs. England started their second innings with a handsome lead of 69 runs.

They looked to build on this lead as Joe Denly looked in sublime touch scoring 94 runs. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler scored 67 runs and 47 runs respectively by taking England to a total of 329 runs and giving a total of 398 runs, for the Aussies to win the test as well as the Ashes.

With two days of play left, a winner had to be decided. Australia was again outclassed by some quality bowling from England as Stuart Broad and Jack Leach picked up 4 wickets each. Mathew Wade scored a gutsy 117 runs as he kept the Aussies alive in the test match but not for long. Australia was bowled out for 263 runs on the fourth day as England won the last Ashes test by 135 runs.

Although the series had no winner with the end result being 2-2, Australia retained the Urn on English soil after 18 years. They had won the previous Ashes Series back in Australia and a draw in this series resulted in retaining the Ashes.

Steve Smith was adjudged the Man of the series for his heavenly batting performance of 774 runs in 7 innings with a whopping average of 110.