Australia may have retained the Ashes having escaped certain defeat thanks to a rainy weekend in Manchester, but there remains plenty for both them and England to play for at the Oval.
Victory in the fifth Test would seal a first series win as tourists for the Aussies since 2001. After coming so close to victory at Old Trafford, England will hell bent on avoiding that ignominy.
Ben Stokes’ men are 11/8 for the win at the Oval and our England vs Australia tips full expect them to secure the success that lands the series draw bet we put up after the third Test.
England vs Australia Oval Test Match Tips
England to win @ 11/8
Ollie Robinson England top first innings wicket taker @ 11/4
Marnus Labuschagne top Australian first innings run scorer @ 4/1
Bet on the latest Cricket odds at Betzone
Impetus with England despite Old Trafford weather woes
Australia may have retained the Ashes, but England were only denied easily the most decisive win of the series so far by the wettest of wet weekends in Manchester.
The Aussies looked tired and short on ideas over the first three days at Old Trafford and pitch up at the Oval to start this match just four days later. This will be their sixth high-pressure Test in seven weeks with this series following on from the ICC World Test Championship Final vs India.
The final two days of the previous Test may have lacked much in the way of action, but the tension of weather-watch will have allowed Pat Cummins beleaguered troops little respite.
England have won four of their last five Tests at the Oval beating South Africa (twice), the Indians and Australia during that sequence. They secured a 2-2 Ashes series draw with victory on this ground in 2019 and they can repeat the dose four years on.
Fit again Sussex seamer’s Oval record suggests fifth Test spree
Ollie Robinson has been declared fit again and features in an unchanged England squad for the final Test. The right-arm medium pace man’s Test record at the Oval is a key reason he should be preferred to Josh Tongue and Jimmy Anderson in the XI.
Robinson boasts the best average (runs per wicket) of any bowler to have sent down more than 70 overs at the Kennington ground in the last decade – and it’s not even that close.
The Sussex man has taken 12 wickets at an average 19.33 across two matches at the Oval, with the next best comparable average in that 10-year timeframe the 25.65 of the seemingly fading Anderson.
Bet: Ollie Robinson England top first innings wicket taker @ 11/4
Side with sole Aussie who has improved as the Ashes has progressed
Potential Aussie batting bedrocks have no sooner caught light than sputtered out in this series.
Usman Khawaja has been far from the immovable object he appeared at Edgbaston, middle-order shot maker Travis Head was skittled for one on his most recent outing and Steve Smith has routinely failed to deliver.
The same had largely been true of Marnus Labuschagne earlier in the series, but the right-hander stepped up substantially at Old Trafford with a first innings 51 and a 111 in the second innings that did much to steer his side to the safety of the rain drenched weekend and ultimately the draw.
It was a timely confidence booster for a man who came into this series as the ICC’s number one ranked Test batsman and he can push on at the Oval as those around him struggle for form.
Bet: Marnus Labuschagne top Australian first innings run scorer @ 4/1
