Third Test, 1948 Ashes Series - 13 July: Day Five

13 July: Day Five

The rest day was followed by the fourth day, which was abandoned due to persistent rain. Despite this, 21,000 spectators came in anticipation of the weather clearing so that some play would be possible. However, a northeasterly depression from the Faroe Islands brought ongoing precipitation and prevented any play.

Yardley declared at the start of the fifth day after a pitch inspection, leaving Australia a victory target of 317, but the rain kept falling and the entire first session was abandoned. The umpires had decided to start play half an hour later than normal, but this was not possible and they helped the ground staff to clean up the wet surface. Bradman chose to use the light roller and play was supposed to begin as soon as the lunch break ended.

Further delay meant play began after the tea break, and the pitch played very slowly because of the excess moisture, which also caused there to be little bounce in the surface. With Australia not looking to chase the runs because the time available was not reasonable, Yardley often had seven men in close catching positions. In the first half hour, Australia showed little attacking intent and scored only six runs. Young replaced Pollard and Johnson immediately swept him for four, before edging the next ball to Crapp, who completed the catch. Johnson fell for six to leave Australia at 10/1.

Bradman came in and played his first 11 balls from Young without scoring, while Morris hit two streaky shots for four from Bedser. Yardley used the spin of Young and Compton for an hour, while Morris and Bradman made little effort to score. For 105 minutes, Morris stayed at one end and Bradman at the other; neither looked to rotate the strike with singles. Bradman only played eight balls from Morris's main end, and at one point was so startled by his partner's desire for a single that he sent him back. The tourists thereafter batted in an unhurried and defensive manner to ensure a draw, which was sealed by a series of periodic rain interruptions. They ended on 92/1 from 61 overs, a run rate of 1.50, with 35 maidens. It was the slowest innings run rate to date in the series. Morris finished unbeaten on 54, his fourth consecutive half-century of the series. O'Reilly criticised the approach taken by the Australians in the closing stages of the match, attributing it to Bradman's orders. He said the pitch was made so tame by the heavy rain that they could have played in a natural and attractive manner to entertain the spectators, rather than defending carefully. He said Bradman's "unwillingness to take a risk or to accept the challenging call of some particular phase of the game is one of the greatest flaws" in his leadership.

The attendance of 133,740 exceeded the previous record for a Test in England, which was set in the preceding match at Lord's even though more than 30% of the playing time had been lost.