Ashes 2023 live: England v Australia fifth Test score today – cricket updates

There is a great prestige attached to topping the charts at the end of a hard-fought Ashes and two Englishmen currently sit atop the standings.

Zak Crawley’s outstanding 189 at Old Trafford catapulted him up the run-scoring list with 385 but Khawaja, Stokes, Joe Root, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne have cleared 300 and have a chance to overtake.

In the bowling ranks, Broad is on his own with 18 wickets. Cummins, with 16, is his nearest challenger with Mitchell Starc one further back.

Amazingly given the number of thirty-somethings involved this summer, not to mention James Anderson’s impending 41st birthday, there are no confirmed retirements heading into this match. Despite that there is a growing sense that many of the key combatants are close to the end of their Ashes journey.

Anderson has vowed he is not hanging up his boots yet, but will surely be taking it easy when England next head Down Under in 2025/26. Among the rest it is asking a lot for Stuart Broad (37), David Warner (36), Usman Khawaja (36), Chris Woakes (34) and Mark Wood (33) to see this stage again.

But first out of the door is likely to be Moeen Ali, the 36-year-old all-rounder who only came out of retirement after an SOS following Jack Leach’s injury.

England have less to play for now but, as captain, Stokes is not lacking drive as he seeks to cap a six-week contest that has reinvigorated the Test game.

“Putting the shirt on, walking out, representing the country, leading this team out is all the motivation I need,” he said.

For opposite number Pat Cummins, the goal is clear: becoming the first Australia captain since Steve Waugh in 2001 to win a series outright on English soil.

“We know that it wasn’t our best week last week and at the end of the game it was a bit of a pat on the back, ‘well done, we’ve retained the Ashes’ but really it feels like the job’s not done,” he said.

“This group has been really motivated to win the series.”

England are bidding to level the series and deny Australia their first Ashes victory overseas for more than 20 years, as the fifth and final Test begins at the Oval today.

Australia may have already secured the ultimate prize and retained the urn after the rained-out draw in Manchester put them 2-1 ahead and ensured they could not lose the series, but there is still plenty to play for. As England captain Ben Stokes put it this week: “2-2 sounds a lot better than 3-1.”

Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have opted for the same England XI which dominated the fourth Test before the weather scuppered their chances of victory. For Pat Cummins, there is the chance to become the first Australian captain since Mark Waugh in 2001 to win an Ashes series in England, with defeats in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015 and a draw four years ago.

Follow all the latest Ashes updates from the Oval as England bid to square the series.