Winning three consecutive Ashes series at home and fastest Test fifties

Stats highlights from the exciting final day's action at The Oval

Shiva Jayaraman

25-Aug-2013

Alastair Cook kisses the Ashes urn, England v Australia, 5th Investec Test, The Oval, 5th day, August 25, 2013

With this, England have won 31 Ashes series and have drawn level with Australia. Playing at home, both England and Australia have now won 17 Ashes series. This was the third consecutive Ashes series win for England at home. The last time England won three consecutive series at home was between 1977 and 1985. England won the series 3-0 in 1977, 3-1 in 1981, and 3-1 in 1985.

After 1977, when they lost by a similar score line of 3-0, this was the first instance of Australia losing an Ashes series without winning a single Test.

This match ranks 13th in terms of the closest draws by runs remaining, in Tests. This was also the second closest draw in the Ashes, in terms of runs remaining. The closest draw in terms of runs remaining, in the Ashes, was this match at the MCG in 1974.

A total of 447 runs were scored in the day, which is the most scored in the fifth day ever in an Ashes Test. The previous highest on the fifth day of an Ashes Test was 407 runs at Leeds in 1948. This was only the fifth instance of 400 or more runs being scored on the fifth day of a Test match. All these instances have involved Australia. Overall, the most runs scored on the fifth day of a Test was between Australia and New Zealand at Brisbane when 459 runs were scored. Click here for a list of most runs scored in a day in Tests.

Brad Haddin's catch off Ryan Harris to dismiss Joe Root* was his 29th of this series. With that catch he broke Rod Marsh's record for the highest number of catches taken by a wicketkeeper in a Test series and also the highest number of dismissals collected by a wicketkeeper in a Test series. Marsh, Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist have collected 20 or more dismissals in a Test series five times in their careers, which is a record for wicketkeepers in Tests. For England, the record for most dismissals by a wicketkeeper is held by Jack Russell who collected 27 dismissals in a series against South Africa in 1995-96.

Kevin Pietersen's half-century off 36 balls in England's fourth-innings chase was the fastest fifty by an England batsman in the Ashes. Pietersen took one fewer than Matt Prior, who held this record previously with a 37-ball half-century at Lord's in 2009. The record for the fastest fifty in Tests by an England batsman is held by Ian Botham, who scored a half-century off 28 balls against India in 1982 at Delhi. The record for the fastest half-century in Tests is held by Jacques Kallis, who hit a fifty off 24 balls against Zimbabwe at Cape Town.

Including the runs scored in this match, Kevin Pietersen has scored 897 runs at The Oval in Tests. He is averaging 59.80 at the venue and has hit four centuries and three half-centuries. He is now one of the seven batsmen to score 800 or more runs at The Oval.

Jonathan Trott - whose strike rate in ODIs has been the topic of debate of late - did his bit for England in their chase by scoring at a strike-rate of 67.81, which was his second highest strike-rate in an innings of fifty or more runs. His fastest innings of fifty or more runs came against Sri Lanka at Lord's, when he scored at a strike rate of 77.33.

Alastair Cook scored 277 runs from five matches in the series at an average of 27.70. This was only the sixth instance of an England captain, and a recognised batsman, winning the Ashes series despite averaging 30 or less from five or more matches in the series. Mike Brearley won the Ashes twice, in 1977 and 1978, in spite of averaging less than 30 as a batsman in the series. Cook is also the third England opener-captain, after Len Hutton and Brearley, to win an Ashes-series while averaging less than 30 as a batsman in the series.

*0600GMT, August 26: The article had said that Brad Haddin broke Rod Marsh's record with James Anderson's catch. This has been corrected.

Kevin Pietersen Alastair Cook Brad Haddin Jonathan Trott England Australia England vs Australia Australia tour of England and Scotland

Shiva Jayaraman is a sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo