Oval Test, Day 5, Close
Monday, August 27, 2001

It was always going to happen, but it was a good effort by England's tailenders to keep Australia out until tea. They got Warne's fingers tired, and he finally had to come off, and it was left to Glenn McGrath to come back and end the fun. His figures were so superior to any other fast bowler in the match – he's just different class.

All credit to Australia for winning at The Oval for the first time since 1972. It would have been easy to come out today and just go through the motions, but they were really fired up and took the game by the scruff of the neck with early wickets. It was a fantastic effort.

There were many crucial moments in the series, and England didn't really win any of them, apart from the last day at Headingley. But there were other times when the teams were just about level, and Australia put in the hard yards and took the match away from England. I think that England's senior players need to inspire the others more than they do. Just look at Steve Waugh – he influences the Australian players by his calmness, everyone can relax. There was definitely a difference here to Headingley, when an inexperienced captain was in charge.

Steve was only marginally fit for this match, so it was a gutsy move to play at all. Then he came out with some fantastic strokeplay. Even though he made his injury worse, he went out there and fielded. So no-one was going to pipe up on the field if they got a niggle, because the skipper was out there with an injury himself.

There were a few plus-points in the series for England. We heard a lot about the injuries they had, but don't forget that if it hadn't been for those injuries then we would probably never have seen the two best-performing batsmen, Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash. That pair look to have established themselves, and I liked the look of James Ormond. But it seemed to me as if England only settled down once the series was lost and the pressure was off – they certainly performed better here and at Headingley than in the first three Tests. But that was too little too late – the story of England's summer really.

Ian Healy made a record 395 dismissals in 119 Tests for Australia, and was on the winning side in the last six Ashes series. His comments appeared on Wisden.com at the end of every session of the Oval and Headingley Tests. He was talking to Steven Lynch.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd