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The Fifth Test of the 1948 Ashes series, held at The Oval in London, was the final Test in that cricket series between Australia and England. The match took place on 14–18 August, with a rest day on 15 August. Australia won the match by an innings and 149 runs to complete a 4–0 series win. It was the last Test in the career of Australian captain Donald Bradman, generally regarded as the best batsman in the history of the sport. Going into the match, if Australia batted only once, Bradman needed only four runs from his final innings to have a Test batting average of exactly 100, but he failed to score, bowled second ball for a duck by leg spinner Eric Hollies. With the series already lost, the England selectors continued to make many changes, on this occasion, four. In all, they had used 21 players for the series and were severely criticised for failing to maintain continuity. England captain Norman Yardley won the toss, and elected to bat on a pitch affected by rain. After a delayed start due to inclement weather, the Australian pace attack, led by Ray Lindwall, dismissed England within the first day for just 52. Lindwall was the main destroyer, taking six wickets for 20 runs (6/20). The English batsmen found it difficult to cope with his prodigious swing and pace; four of his wickets were either bowled or leg before wicket. Len Hutton was the only batsman to resist, making 30 before being the final man dismissed. In reply, Australia's opening pair of Arthur Morris and Sid Barnes passed England's score on the same afternoon with no loss of wickets. The opening stand ended at 117 when Barnes fell for 61 and Bradman came to the crease to a standing ovation and three cheers from his opponents. He fell second ball, but Australia reached 153/2 at stumps on the first day.〔This notation, when discussing batting figures, means that the batting team scored 153 runs, but lost two wickets in doing so.〕 On the second day, Australian batsmen fell regularly once Lindsay Hassett was dismissed at 226/3, most of them being troubled by Hollies, who had been selected after taking 8/107 against Australia for Warwickshire. Morris was an exception and he made 196, more than half his team's total, before being run out as Australia were dismissed for 389. Hollies took 5/131. England reached 54/1 at stumps and by lunch on the third day were 121/2, Hutton and Denis Compton batting steadily. However, they suffered a late collapse to be 178/7 when bad light and rain stopped the day's play. Hutton top-scored for the second time in the match for England, making 64. The next morning, Bill Johnston took the last three wickets as England were bowled out for 188, ending the match. Johnston ended with 4/40 and Lindwall 3/50. The match was followed by speeches from both captains, after which the crowd sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" in Bradman's honour. Having been undefeated in their matches up to this point, the Australians maintained their streak in the remaining fixtures, gaining them the sobriquet of ''The Invincibles''. ==Background== After the first four Tests, Australia led the series 3–0, having won all but the Third Test, which was rain-affected. They had taken an unlikely win in the Fourth Test at Headingley, scoring 404/3 in their second innings, the highest ever score in a successful Test runchase.〔Harte and Whimpress, pp. 403–405.〕〔Fingleton, pp. 175–177.〕 Australia had been unbeaten throughout the tour. Between the Fourth and Fifth Test, they played five tour matches. They defeated Derbyshire by an innings, before having a washout against Glamorgan. The Australians then defeated Warwickshire by nine wickets, before drawing with Lancashire, who hung on with three wickets in hand on the final day. Australia's final lead-in outing was a two-day non-first-class match against Durham, which was drawn after rain washed out the second day.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.cricinfo.com/invincibles/engine/series/61329.html )〕〔Fingleton, pp. 190–210.〕 With the series already lost, England made four changes to their team.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62688.html )〕〔 John Dewes replaced Cyril Washbrook—who broke his thumb in a match for Lancashire against the Australians—at the top of the order. Dewes had gained attention after scoring 51 for Middlesex in the tour match against the Australians.〔〔Fingleton, p. 200.〕 In the three weeks between then and the Test, he had scored 105 and 89 against Lancashire and Sussex respectively. However, he had averaged less than 40 for the season and made three consecutive scores below 20 leading into the Tests.〔(【引用サイトリンク】Player Oracle JG Dewes 1948 )〕 The journalist and former Australian Test cricketer Bill O'Reilly condemned the decision, claiming that aside from defending the ball, Dewes was too reliant on slogging towards the leg side with a horizontal bat.〔O'Reilly, p. 144.〕 O'Reilly claimed Dewes was not ready for Test cricket and that asking him to face the rampant Australians could have psychologically scarred him. He said the selection "was tantamount to asking a young first-year medical student to carry out an intricate operation with a butcher's knife."〔O'Reilly, p. 145.〕 Allan Watkins replaced Ken Cranston as the middle order batsman and pace bowler. Both Dewes and Watkins were making their Test debut,〔〔 and the latter became the second Welshman to play in an Ashes Test.〔〔Fingleton, p. 186.〕 Watkins had scored 19 and taken 1/47 for Glamorgan in their match against Australia two weeks earlier, but had only scored 168 runs at 18.66 and taken 11 wickets in his last six matches.〔(【引用サイトリンク】Player Oracle AJ Watkins 1948 )〕 Cranston had made a duck and 10, and taken 1/79 on his debut in the previous Test.〔 While acknowledging Cranston's poor performances and concluding that he had not been of international quality, O'Reilly said Watkins' performance in Glamorgan's match against the Australians "had not inspired anyone with his ability" to counter the tourists' bowling.〔O'Reilly, p. 146.〕 England played two spinners; left arm orthodox spinner Jack Young replaced fellow finger spinner Jim Laker, while the leg spin of Eric Hollies replaced the pace bowling of Dick Pollard.〔〔 Hollies was brought into the team because he had caused the Australian batsmen difficulty in the tour match against Warwickshire.〔Fingleton, pp. 170–180.〕 He took 8/107 in the first innings, the best innings figures against the Australians for the summer. His performance included bowling Bradman with a topspinner that went between bat and pad.〔Fingleton, pp. 204–205.〕 It was part of a month-long run in which he took 52 wickets in seven matches, including two ten-wicket match hauls.〔(【引用サイトリンク】Player Oracle WE Hollies 1948 )〕 Young had taken 12 and 14 wickets in consecutive matches against Northamptonshire and Surrey since his omission following the Third Test,〔(【引用サイトリンク】Player Oracle JA Young 1948 )〕 while Pollard and Laker had managed totals of only 2/159 and 3/206 respectively in the Headingley Test.〔 Having made only 5 and 18 in the previous Test,〔 Jack Crapp was originally dropped from the team but was reprieved by Washbrook's injury.〔 The England selectors were widely condemned for their decisions,〔 which were seen as an investment in youth rather than necessarily picking the best players available at the time.〔Arlott, p. 123.〕 Their frequent changes meant the home team had used a total of 21 players for the five Tests.〔 Australia made three changes. Having taken only seven wickets in the first four Tests at an average of 61.00,〔Perry (2000), p. 194.〕 off spinner Ian Johnson was replaced by leg spinner Doug Ring.〔〔 Australia's second change was forced on them; the injured medium pacer Ernie Toshack was replaced by the opening batsman Sid Barnes, who had missed the Fourth Test with a rib injury. This meant Australia were playing with one extra batsman and one less frontline bowler.〔〔 The final change was the return of first-choice wicket-keeper Don Tallon from injury and the omission of his deputy Ron Saggers.〔〔〔Fingleton, p. 183.〕 The two nations had last met at The Oval in the Fifth Test of the 1938 Ashes series, during Australia's previous tour of England.〔 On that occasion, England made a Test world record score of 903/7 declared, and Len Hutton made 364, an individual Test world record. Australia batted in both innings with only nine men because of injuries sustained by Bradman and Jack Fingleton during Hutton's 13-hour marathon effort. They collapsed to the heaviest defeat in Test history, by an innings and 579 runs. It was Australia's last Test before World War II and they had not lost a Test since then.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Statsguru – Australia – Tests – Results list )〕〔Harte and Whimpress, p. 379.〕 Hundreds of spectators had slept on wet pavements outside the stadium in rainy weather on the eve of the Test to queue for tickets. Bradman had announced his forthcoming retirement at the end of the season, so the public were anxious to witness his last appearance at Test level.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fifth Test, 1948 Ashes series」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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