Bill Johnston With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - Fifth Test

Fifth Test

Johnston rounded off his Ashes series with the Fifth Test at The Oval. English skipper Norman Yardley elected to bat on a rain-affected pitch, a decision many regarded as surprising. Precipitation in the past week rendered play before midday impossible. Former Australian Test batsman and leading commentator Jack Fingleton speculated that the tourists would have bowled if they had won the toss.

The damp conditions meant required a large amount of sawdust to be laid down to help the players keep their grip. Along with the rain, the humid conditions assisted the Australian bowlers, who were able to make the ball bounce at variable heights.

After Miller removed John Dewes with the score at 1/2, Bradman made an early bowling change and introduced Johnston. Edrich joined Hutton and they played cautiously until the former attempted to hook a short ball from Johnston. He failed to get the ball in the middle of the bat and it looped up and travelled around 10 metres (33 ft). Lindsay Hassett caught the ball just behind square leg, after diving sideways and getting both hands to the ball. This left England at 2/10. After the lunch break, Johnston dismissed debutant Allan Watkins without scoring after the batsman played across the line to be trapped lbw, leaving England at 6/42. Johnston ended with 2/20 from 16 overs as England were skittled for 52. After being unbeaten without scoring in Australia's innings of 389, Johnston was again among the wickets when England's second innings late on the second day.

England started their second innings with a deficit of 337 runs and reached 1/54 by the premature end of the second day due to bad light. The following morning, they made slow and steady progress as Johnston bowled his finger spin from around the wicket with a well-protected off side. The four men in the off side ring had much work to do as Hutton hit the ball there repeatedly. The English batsmen progressed and Johnston had one confident appeal for lbw against Compton, but there were few scares.

They reached 2/125 after lunch, when Compton—who was on 39—aimed a hard cut shot from Johnston's bowling, which flew off the edge into Lindwall's left hand at second slip for a "freak slip catch". This triggered a collapse late in the afternoon, which saw the hosts lose 4/25 to end the third day at 7/178. England resumed on the fourth morning with only three wickets in hand, still needing 159 runs to make Bradman’s men bat again. Johnston quickly removed the last three wickets, Alec Bedser, Yardley and Eric Hollies to seal an Australian victory by an innings and 149 runs. Only ten runs were added in the brief morning session; Hollies fell for a golden duck after skying a ball to Morris, immediately after Yardley became the ninth man to fall. Johnston ended with 4/40 from 27.3 overs and he was the most economical of the bowlers. Given the time lost to inclement weather on the first day, Australia had won the match in less than three days of playing time. Overall, Johnston finished with 27 Test wickets at an average of 23.33, equal to Lindwall but at a higher average.