Australia have the Ashes secure ahead of this week's final Test at the Oval — a situation that was very familiar for the incomparable Shane Warne.
A genuine sporting great who defined his art of leg-spin, enrapturing and inspiring millions around the world, Warne died on March 4, 2022, aged 52.
His 708 Test wickets place him second on the all-time list and much of his enduring status among fans was sealed by phenomenal performances in Ashes battles.
In 36 games against England in the longest format, Warne took 195 wickets, claiming 11 five-wicket hauls and 10 in the match on four occasions — all of which are career-best marks.
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Despite his relentless success at their side's expense, Warne won a place in the heart of England supporters too and, over the course of this series, we have looked back at his performances at all five of the grounds hosting 2023 Ashes Tests.
Like many great Ashes stories, that means we conclude at the Oval, a place of triumph and defeat for Warne and the ground where he memorably bade farewell to Test cricket in England.
1993 — 6th Ashes Test: England won by 161 runs
England had been battered from pillar to post on Warne’s debut Ashes tour and headed to the Oval 4-0 down and having changed their captain mid-series. Michael Atherton brought in fast bowling trio Devon Malcolm, Angus Fraser and Steve Watkin for their first appearances of the series, taking the number of players used by England to 25 across the six matches.
Belatedly, they hit upon a winning formula as Atherton, his predecessor Gooch, Graeme Hick and Alec Stewart hit half-centuries in 380 all out. England ended with a 77-run lead on first innings and the deficit would have been more significant had Warne not hung around in a fifty-partnership for the ninth wicket with Ian Healy (83 not out).
Fraser took 5/87 as England’s three pacemen shared the wickets between them on a fast surface. Gooch backed up his first-innings efforts with another fifty before becoming one of five Warne victims in the match but England managed to set the tourists a victory target of 391 that was never particularly under threat as Fraser and Malcolm took three apiece and Watkin was the pick with 4/65. Warne was the last man out, lbw to Fraser after hitting six fours in a defiant 37.
1997 — 6th Ashes Test: England won by 19 runs
After a tricky start to their 1997 tour, where they lost the opening Test at Edgbaston after being whitewashed 3-0 in the preceding ODI series, Australia turned the tables and put the hammer down, meaning Atherton’s side again only had pride to play for in south London. It looked as if their misery would deepen as Glenn McGrath (7/76) continued his summerlong pastime of tormenting the England batting lineup.
Stewart top scored with 36 as Warne took a couple of lower-order wickets but 180 all out remarkably had England in the game when Australia were bundled out cheaply for 220. Slow left-armer Phil Tufnell took 7/66 as the pitch began to spin and bounce unevenly, and Australia had Warne’s counter-attacking 30 to thank for a good chunk of their lead.
Graham Thorpe beaome the only batter to pass 50 in the match as he hit 62 in England’s second innings but Mark Ramprakash — stumped when charging Warne on 48 — was the only other batter to progress beyond 13 as Michael Kasprowicz assumed the McGrath mantle with 7/36. A straightforward chase of 124 for victory then? Well, not quite as Andrew Caddick blew away the top order to claim 5/42 and Tufnell’s 4/27 gave him 11 in the match for an unlikely England triumph
2001 — 5th Ashes Test: Australia won by an innings and 25 runs
England already had time to lose the series and claim their consolation win at Headingley by the time the 2001 series got to the Oval. A sporting declaration from stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist gave Mark Butcher the chance to play his stunning winning hand in Leeds. Steve Waugh was back for the final game and in no mood to show any more mercy.
Waugh finished unbeaten on 157, one of three centuries in a gargantuan 641/4 declared. Four years made a world of difference for Caddick and Tufnell, who sent down 75 overs between them for respective figures of 0/146 and 1/174. It would be Tufnell’s final Test.
England fought gamely to avoid the follow-on and Ramprakash starred with 133 before they fell 10 agonising runs short on 432 all out. This was largely down to Warne’s gargantuan efforts over the course of 44.2 overs that returned 7/165. He ended with 11 in the match, taking 4/64, as the hosts were depleted of any remaining resistance and tumbled to 184 all out.
MORE: Shane Warne's Ashes: Holding role at Headingley as seamers shine
2005 — 5th Ashes Test: Match drawn
The celebrated 2005 series reached its unforgettable crescendo at the Oval. England only needed a draw to lift the urn for the first time since 1986/87, but Warne was not about to give it up without a hell of a fight. Michael Vaughan won the toss and batted, Andrew Strauss hit 129 but Warne claimed a five-wicket haul on day one. He won an lbw verdict to have Ashley Giles as the last man out and claim 6/122 in 373 all out.
Centuries from openers Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden put Australia in a position to go way past England, only for Andrew Flintoff to summon his talismanic qualities and pull the game back in his team’s favour with 5/78. From 264/1, Australia collapsed to 367 and handed England a slender first-innings lead.
Weather took time out of the game and the hosts resumed on day five with the score 34/1. Australia needed quick wickets to set up a late run chase and Warne (6/124) and McGrath rolled back the years to have Vaughan’s men five down at lunch. The tension at the Oval felt suffocating but Kevin Pietersen counter-attacked thrillingly to scored 158 and take the game away from the Aussies. It was one of the great Ashes centuries — one that would not have been possible had Warne clung on to a catch at second slip when Pietersen was on 15.
Still, to blame Shane for “dropping the Ashes” would be ludicrous. At times that summer it felt like he was playing a fired-up England by himself. He took 40 wickets in the series, twice the amount of the next-best Australian Brett Lee, at 19.92. He passed the landmark of 600 Test wickets and became his country’s all-time leading Ashes wicket-taker. There was also a handy 249 runs at 27.66 from No. 8. Perversely, the only Ashes series Warne ever lost was his greatest.
