Ashes 2019 5th Test, statistical preview: First drawn Ashes series in 47 years on the cards

Australia won the fourth Test of the ongoing Ashes, at Old Trafford, to go 2-1 up and retain The Ashes. However, England may still draw the series with a win at The Oval and secure valuable points in the ICC Test Championship. If that happens, it will be the first drawn Ashes series in 47 years. However, England have won 42 Tests here and lost 22, and have not lost a Test series at home since 2014.

Statistical preview

0.437 win-loss ratio of Australia at The Oval (7 wins, 16 defeats), their worst anywhere in the world with a 10-Test cut-off. However, they hold a 2-1 advantage over the last 5 Tests here.

0.747 win-loss ratio of England against Australia (109 wins, 146 defeats), their worst against any team. Barring Australia, they have lost more than won only against West Indies (49 wins, 51 defeats).

1.909 win-loss ratio of England at The Oval (42 wins, 22 defeats). At home, they have a better ratio only at Edgbaston (3.111) with a 7-Test cut-off.

2 wickets needed by Peter Siddle (48) to become the 12th Australian (1st from the current squad) to take 50 Test wickets on English soil. Of the other 11, Bill O’Reilly and Merv Hughes have exactly 50 wickets apiece.

2 hundreds for Steven Smith at The Oval, the joint 2nd-most by any touring batsman. He is tied with 8 other batsmen. Bruce Mitchell (3) is the only one to have more.

5 years since England lost a Test series at home. Their last defeat (0-1) came in 2014, against Sri Lanka.

5 wickets needed by Stuart Broad (30) to reach the 5th spot among most wicket-takers at The Oval. Only Ian Botham (52), Derek Underwood (45), James Anderson (44), and Jim Laker (40) have more. Broad will have to go past Fred Trueman (30), Brian Statham (31), Shane Warne (32), Bob Willis (33), and Tony Lock (34).

8 runs needed by Jonny Bairstow (2,992) to become the 4th Englishman, after Alec Stewart (4,540), Alan Knott (4,389), and Matt Prior (4,099) and 14th overall to score 3,000 Test runs as a wicketkeeper.

10 runs needed by Smith (1,624) to go past Steve Waugh (1,633) and become the 3rd-highest run-getter among Australians and 5th-highest overall among touring batsmen on English soil. Only Don Bradman (2,674), Allan Border (2,082), Viv Richards (2,057), and Garry Sobers (1,820) have more.

11 Ashes hundreds for Smith. He needs 1 more to draw level with Jack Hobbs and reach 2nd spot, after Bradman (19).

16 runs needed by Bairstow (3,984) to become the 34th Englishman and 131st overall to score 4,000 Test runs.

18 years since Australia had last won an Ashes series on English soil. Since then they have lost in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2015. However, irrespective of the outcome this time, they have managed to retain The Ashes, once again, for the first time in 18 years.

23 runs needed by Nathan Lyon (977) and 66 by Peter Handscomb (934) to reach 1,000 Test runs. Whoever reaches there first will be the 106th Australian and 545th overall to the milestone.

35 runs needed by Joe Root (6,965) to become the 12th Englishman and 48th overall to score 7,000 Test runs.

47 years since an Ashes series has been drawn. The last, in England in 1972, had ended in a 2-2 draw. Since then the teams have drawn the Centenary Test (Lord’s, 1980) and Bicentenary Test (Sydney, 1987-88), but these one-off Tests were not part of The Ashes.

113 runs needed by Usman Khawaja (2,887) to become the 38th Australian and 196th overall to score 3,000 Test runs.

130 runs needed by Smith (6,870) to become the 12th Australian and 48th overall to score 7,000 Test runs.

288 runs for Smith at The Oval. While this is 17th on the list of touring batsmen, only one of men above them (Bradman, 553) has scored more than 478.

671 runs in the series for Smith. Another 79 runs will make him the 2nd batsman in history to score 750 runs in two different series. Smith had also scored 769 runs against India at home in 2014-15. The only other batsman to have achieved this is Bradman, who has done it 4 times (974 in 1930, 806 in 1931-32, 758 in 1934, 810 in 1936-37).

887 runs for Broad against Australia, along with 114 wickets. He needs 113 runs to become the 3rd Englishman and 6th overall to do the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets against a single opposition. The others are Botham (1,673 and 148) and Wilfred Rhodes (1,706 and 109), both for England against Australia; Monty Noble (1,905 and 115) and George Giffen (1,131 and 101), both for Australia against England; and Sobers (3,214 and 102) for West Indies against England.