England’s defeat to Australia at the Oval represents the ninth test match in succession where Alastair Cook’s men have been involved in a positive result. The April fixture against the West Indies – England’s first of 2015 – produced an outcome which is becoming increasingly rare; the draw.

Facing facts

The TV pundits are saying it and on this occasion at least, the stats are backing them up: The draw is going out of the game. England’s recent win over Australia at Trent Bridge saw Captain Cook regain the Ashes in 14 days of cricket out of a possible 20 and few expected the final game at the Oval to be any different. As it transpired, four days in SE11 produced victory for Australia as this became the first five test series in the history of the game where no cricket was played on a fifth day.

The majority of blame is being placed firmly on the rise of T20 and that seems a fair deduction. The pace of the game has moved on and a test match run rate of 4 per over is just mediocre for 2015. Commentators remarked on the speed of Joe Root’s hundred at Trent Bridge, but a century in 127 balls is, once again, an unremarkable feat these days. A rather more unusual effort was Adam Voges’ unbeaten 51 from 118 deliveries in Australia’s second innings which showed a rare ability for a batsman to occupy the crease.