Shane Warne needs four more wickets to become the sixth bowler to reach 400 in Tests. He would be the first Australian and the first spinner to achieve the feat.

Mike Atherton's 50 and 42 against Australia at the Oval in 1993 brought his total for the series to 553, an Ashes record for a batsman who didn't score a century.

If the third Test really was Steve Waugh's last in England, he finished his Test career there as he started it: not out in a winning team. In complete contrast with his painful single at Trent Bridge, in 1989 he arrived in England without a Test century to his name after 41 innings - and proceeded to score 177, 152 and 21 before being dismissed for the first time in the series, which Australia won to regain the Ashes. His 393 runs between dismissals is a record in Ashes Tests.

Mark Butcher's father Alan made his only Test appearance at The Oval, against India in 1979. According to Mike Brearley, his opening partner Geoff Boycott did him no favours, 'almost paralysing him with his account of the risks of playing shots in a Test match.' Butcher senior didn't entirely fail, 'but did not look at ease', and his 14 and 20 weren't enough to earn him a second cap.

Peter Willey, one of the umpires in this Oval Test, played for England in the amazing Headingley Test of 1981. It was his 19th Test and the first in which he finished on the winning side.

The Oval is the most venerable sports ground in the country. It was the venue for the first cricket, rugby and football internationals staged in England. England won all three, beating Scotland at rugby in 1872 and football in 1873, and Australia at cricket in 1880. WG Grace hit the first Test century by an England batsman and Captain William Stanley Kenyon-Slaney of the Household Brigade scored the first goal in any official soccer international.

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