Fourth Test, 1948 Ashes Series - 27 July: Day Five

27 July: Day Five

England batted on for five minutes during the final morning, adding three runs in two overs before Yardley declared at 365/8, with Evans unbeaten on 47. Johnston had the pick of the bowling figures, with 4/95. Batting into the final day allowed Yardley to ask the groundsman to use a heavy roller at the start of the morning, which would help break up the wicket and make it more likely to spin. Bradman had done a similar thing during the previous Ashes series in Australia before setting England a target. The hosts needed to beat Australia to avoid a series defeat. Bradman elected to not have the pitch rolled at all, demonstrating his opinion that such a device would make the surface less favourable for batting.

The declaration left Australia with a victory target of 404 runs. At the time, this would have been the highest ever fourth innings score to result in a Test victory for the batting side. Australia had only 345 minutes to reach the target, and the local press wrote them off, predicting their dismissal by lunchtime on a deteriorating wicket expected to favour the spinners. In addition, most of the Australian onlookers present at the ground thought their team had no chance of victory. Morris and Hassett started slowly, making only six runs in the first six overs on a pitch offering spin and bounce. It appeared they were playing carefully at first before deciding whether to try to achieve the target at a later point. In Bedser's second over, the third of the innings, Morris chipped the ball in the air towards mid-wicket, in a similar manner to his first innings dismissal, but this time the ball evaded Cranston. After 15 minutes Australia had only scored 10 runs.

After Bedser had bowled three overs, Yardley introduced Laker in his place in the seventh over to exploit the spin. An attacking field, with two slips and a gully, was put in a place, but Laker bowled inaccurately and the Australian openers took 13 runs from his first over. Hassett hit a four and took a single to give Morris the strike. Morris hit a four, was beaten by a bouncing ball that hurried off the pitch and then hit another boundary. Despite this over, only 44 runs came in the first hour, meaning that 360 runs were needed in 285 minutes. After his poor first over, Laker had settled down and conceded only two runs from his next six overs. The frustrated crowd heckled the Australian openers for their slow scoring and Morris was ironically applauded after taking a single. Evans then missed a leg-side stumping opportunity against Hassett, and Bedser beat each of the Australians with extra bounce. During his early spell, Laker "was getting at least one ball every over to turn considerably".

Noting Laker's ability to extract substantial turn from the pitch, Yardley brought on the part-time left-arm unorthodox spin of Compton, who bowled inaccurately although with some turn. Morris struck two fours in Compton's first over to register Australia's 50 in 64 minutes. Compton's next over was more potent; he deceived Morris, who danced down the pitch and missed the ball, but Evans fumbled the stumping opportunity. At the time, Morris was on 32 and Australia at 55/0. Laker beat Morris in the next over with an off break that spun a foot, and in the succeeding over, Hassett was dismissed by Compton with the score at 57. Compton had caught Hassett's leading edge and dived forward in his follow through to catch the ball one-handed just above the ground.

Bradman joined Morris with 347 runs needed in 257 minutes. After receiving another rapturous welcome from the Headingley spectators in his last innings at the ground, the Australian captain signalled his intentions by hitting a boundary from Compton and another off the first ball he faced from Laker, cover driving against the spin. Bradman reached 12 in six minutes.

Yardley then called upon the occasional leg spin of Hutton in an attempt to exploit the turning wicket. The latter had taken only four wickets in the 1947 English season and had never dismissed an Australian batsman in ten Tests against such opponents. As Australia were still behind the required run rate, Yardley could afford to take risks and sacrifice some runs if he got wickets in return. Morris promptly joined Bradman in the counter-attack, hitting three consecutive fours from Hutton's first over, which Fingleton described as "rather terrible" due to the errant length. This over took Morris to 51. After an economical over from Compton, Bradman took two fours off Hutton's next over before almost holing out to Yardley. Despite the near miss, the 20 runs from Hutton's two inaccurate overs had allowed Australia to reach 96/1 from 90 minutes.

In the next over, Compton bowled a googly to deceive Bradman, who expected the ball to turn in. However, it went the other way, took the outside edge and ran away past slip for four. Bradman leg glanced the next ball for another boundary, before again failing to read a googly on the third ball of the over. This time the edge went to Crapp, who failed to hold on to the catch. The sixth ball of Compton's over beat Bradman and hit him on the pads. Compton had control of Bradman for the over, but went unrewarded. At the other end, Morris continued to plunder Hutton's inaccurate leg breaks, and Australia reached lunch at 121/1, with Morris on 63 and Bradman on 35. Hutton had conceded 30 runs in four overs, and in the half hour preceding the interval, Australia had added 64 runs. Both Morris and Bradman had been given lives. Although Australia had scored at a reasonable rate, they had also been troubled by many of the deliveries and were expected to face further difficulty if they were to avoid defeat.

Upon resumption, Compton continued as Yardley attempted to exploit the turning wicket. However, Compton was not a regular bowler and he sent down a series of ill-directed full tosses and long hops that were easily dispatched for runs. Morris struck seven fours in two overs of what Fingleton called "indescribably bad bowling". This included six fours in eight balls. As Morris continued to attack, Compton began to crack under the pressure and his inaccuracy increased. The part-time bowler had generated trouble for the batsmen by tossing the ball up and beating the bat or inducing edges, but Morris counterattacked with drives. Compton tried to hold back his length to avoid being driven but the Australian opener pounced on the shorter balls. Morris reached the 90s just 14 minutes after the interval and hit another boundary to reach his century in a little over two hours. Morris had added 37 runs since lunch, mainly from Compton's wayward offerings, while Bradman had only added three.

The onslaught prompted Yardley to take the new ball and replace Compton with his pacemen. Bradman reached 50 in 60 minutes and then aimed a drive from Cranston's bowling, but sliced it in the air to point. Yardley dived forward and got his hands to the ball, but failed to hold on. Australia reached 202—halfway to the required total—with 165 minutes left, after Morris dispatched consecutive full tosses from Laker. England began to become demoralised and their fielding continued to deteriorate. Bradman hooked two boundaries, but suffered a fibrositis attack, which put him in significant pain. Drinks were taken while Bradman was being treated, and Morris had to shield his captain from the strike until the pain had subsided. Australia reached 250 shortly before tea with Morris on 133 and Bradman on 92. Bradman then reached his century in 147 minutes as the second-wicket stand passed 200.

Morris was given another life on 136 when Laker dropped him while fielding at square leg from Compton's bowling. Bradman was given another life at 108 when he advanced two metres down the pitch to Laker and missed, but Evans fumbled the stumping opportunity with the batsman far out of his ground. Australia reached tea at 292/1 with Morris on 150. The pair had added 171 during the session. Morris was eventually dismissed by Yardley for 182, after hitting a tired-looking shot to mid-off, having partnered Bradman in a stand of 301 in 217 minutes. He struck 33 fours in a 290-minute innings. This brought Miller to the crease with 46 runs still required. Miller struck two boundaries and helped take the score to 396 before falling lbw to Cranston with eight runs still needed. Harvey came in and got off the mark with a boundary that brought up the winning runs. Australia had won by seven wickets, setting a new world record for the highest successful Test runchase, with Bradman unbeaten on 173 in only 255 minutes of batting with 29 fours.

The attendance of 158,000 was the highest for any cricket match on English soil and the takings were 34,000 pounds. The crowd remains a record for a Test in England.