Australia have started their English summer with a maiden World Test Championship title, winning a one-sided final by 209 runs over India in an emphatic team performance.
A spectacular 163 from Travis Head, together with Steve Smith’s 31st Test ton, helped the Aussies take the match by the throat from the opening day, and while there were pockets of Indian resistance thereafter, most notably in Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur’s century partnership on Day 3, they never truly threatened for victory.
With the Ashes just around the corner, David Warner and Scott Boland both all but rubber-stamped their spots in the first Test XI, while for an ageing India, it might just be a last hurrah for a few of their veterans.
Here are The Roar’s player ratings for the World Test Championship final.
Australia
David Warner – 6
Under more pressure than any other player heading to The Oval, Warner at least ensured he will make it to the start of the Ashes with a strong performance on the opening day.
Driving crisply and working singles like the Warner of old, the veteran put paid to some patchy recent form and concerns about his technique in English conditions to set Australia on a path to an impressive first-innings total, courtesy of a valuable 69-run stand with Marnus Labuschagne for the second wicket.
However, he’d fail to set himself in stone with a significant score, gloving Shardul Thakur down the leg side for 43; that will no doubt have been even more frustrating than his second innings 1, where he was dismissed with a more traditional nick behind.
Usman Khawaja – 3
Australia’s most successful batter of late, Khawaja’s twin failures have raised up the spectre of past failures in English conditions.
With a first-innings duck followed by 13 in the second, on both occasions edging behind balls that could well have been left alone, Khawaja’s average in the motherland now sits at a concerning 17.78; just as concerningly, he and Warner’s highest opening stand for the Test was just 2.
Marnus Labuschagne – 6
It was a frustrating return to the country where Labuschagne’s surge into cricket’s elite began back in 2019, twice squandering starts to force him to watch on as other teammates stole the show.
Neither dismissal was to an unplayable delivery, with the star number three beaten on the inside edge by Mohammed Shami in the first innings before a loose edge off Umesh Yadav in the second. Scores of 26 and 41 now mean Marnus has gone 15 innings without a Test century; unless he salutes in the first innings at Edgbaston, this will officially be his longest ever barren run at the highest level.
Steve Smith – 8.5
Whether he can reach the heights of his Bradmanesque 2019 Ashes series remains to be seen, but Smith’s flawless century in the first innings against India would have sent shivers down every England bowler’s spine.
With his infamous ‘back and across’ technique in vogue again after shelving it for the Australian summer, Smith was far too good for the Indian attack, calmly playing the anchor role in a match-defining 285-run stand with the belligerent Head. It was notable, too, how quick Head was to credit Smith’s mere presence for his superb performance.
Loses a mark for a hideous shot after making his way untroubled to 34 in the second dig, which briefly threatened to spark an Australian collapse, but gains one for his safe slips catching, none better than the pearler which put an end to Virat Kohli’s final-day resistance.
Travis Head – 9.5
If it wasn’t official before, it is now: Head is the closest thing Australian cricket has seen to Adam Gilchrist since the champion’s retirement more than 15 years ago.
Capable of changing the course of a match at a stroke, Head’s sixth Test ton might have been his best: with Australia in a spot of bother at 3/76 when he arrived in the middle on Day 1, the South Australian raced to 27 off 16 balls with a flurry of flashing boundaries, demoralising the Indian attack and giving the Aussies an iron-clad hold on the game they’d never relinquish.
Having received a short-ball working over from India, it’s likely England will try the same trick to unsettle Head: but in the form he’s in at the moment, you’d be hard pressed to not back him to continue on his merry way.
Travis Head celebrates a century. (Photo by Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
Cameron Green – 6.5
Green is far from the finished article as the generational talent in all facets he clearly is, but rarely a Test goes by these days without the all-rounder making a significant impact in some way, shape or form.
His batting was nothing special, though he did grit out a 95-ball 25 in the second innings to push Australia through a challenging period and wear the Indian bowlers out; with the ball, he continued his happy knack of taking partnership-breaking wickets, running through Cheteshwar Pujara in the first innings with a perfect nip-backer.
But it’s in the field where Green’s most significant acts came: two stunning one-handed catches in the gully, one in each innings and both coming at crucial times, among the finest by an Australian in recent memory (even if the second did cause a wee bit of controversy).
Alex Carey (wk) – 7.5
For all the frustration over his continued dalliance with the reverse-sweep, Carey remains the bedrock of Australia’s middle order.
Capable of both extravagent strokeplay and patient accumulation depending on the situation, the gloveman’s freewheeling 48 on the second day ensured an Australian score in excess of 450 after a mini-collapse, while he was just as crucial in the second innings with an unbeaten 66, coming in at 5/124 and pushing the run chase to an unreachable 444.
With the gloves, there was only one bad miss – failing to move for an outside edge off Rahane which Warner dropped one-handed – but by the fifth morning was safely snaffling every half-chance that came his way.
Mitchell Starc – 4
No Australian’s performance at The Oval raises more questions than Starc’s. With four fast bowlers – the three incumbents plus Josh Hazlewood – fighting for three spots to begin the Ashes, his remarkably expensive endeavours against India, conceding well over five runs an over throughout the Test, seem to make him the obvious candidate to face the axe.
On the other hand, he is still capable of magic, with his brute to dismiss a set Kohli in the first innings far and away the best ball of the Test. In clubbing 41 quick runs in Australia’s second dig, he also showed how capable a number eight batter he is, which could well prove crucial across five Tests against the old enemy.
All up, though, this was not the display the much-maligned left-armer would have been hoping for; doubtless England’s army of heavy hitters will be anxiously awaiting their chance to cash in on anything remotely loose.
Pat Cummins (c) – 5
It says something about Cummins’ magnificent Ashes series here four years ago that this was by some way his worst Test in England.
While four wickets, including three in the first innings, are nothing to be sniffed at, the captain struggled mightily with his front foot, bowling 10 no-balls across the Test… two of which cost him wickets.
It’s a significant problem Cummins will need to fix as soon as possible lest it cost Australia in the Ashes; couple that with some occasionally questionable field placements for Starc in particular, and this certainly wasn’t to the standard we’ve come to expect from the world’s best quick.
Nathan Lyon – 8
What a difference 30 months make. After being cannon fodder for India’s batters in their last tour of Australia in 2020/21, they faced a different Lyon at The Oval.
While his overs were limited by a pace-friendly pitch, the off-spinner looked dangerous whenever he entered the attack, removing the dangerous Ravindra Jadeja with a perfect off-break in the first innings, before cashing in on his first extended spell in the second with three lower-order wickets, including the one which sealed victory for Australia.
His most significant moment was in trapping Rohit Sharma LBW on the fourth evening; with the quicks taking a battering and India cruising at 1/92, Lyon struck with just his fifth ball to end the Indian captain’s counterattack. Australia would never look back.
Scott Boland – 8.5
After eight Tests, Scott Boland has 33 wickets at an average of well under 15. Just take a minute and let that sink in.
The Victorian cult hero was yet again magnificent at The Oval; brought into the XI when Hazlewood’s Achilles officially ruled him out, Boland castled Shubman Gill with his ninth ball in England, matching Shane Warne’s feat of taking a wicket in the country before conceding a run.
Metronomic, accurate and perfectly suited for English conditions, all of Boland’s five wickets for the match were members of India’s top seven; by removing Kohli and Jadeja on the fifth morning, he took two scalps in an over for the fourth time in just eight Tests. Obscene.
He might have been the last man in, but the 34-year old could have done no more to pencil his name in for Edgbaston. Given Starc’s leakiness and Hazlewood’s recent injury concerns, the only question should be whether Boland takes the new ball along with Cummins or slides in as first change.
Scott Boland celebrates the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo by Gareth Copley-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
India
Rohit Sharma (c) – 5.5
In both innings with the bat, the Indian skipper looked on course for a match-turning score after a spectacular, boundary-laden start; that he missed out both times will therefore be a source of immense frustration, for himself most of all.
Sharma flew to 15 in the first innings before being strangled into submission by Cummins and Boland’s relentless accuracy, while in the second, his punishing pull shot gave India the briefest of glimpses of a miraculous comeback, before on 43, he chose the wrong Lyon ball to attempt a sweep.
As captain, he was guilty of being too slow to instruct his bowlers to pepper Head with a short-ball assault that proved somewhat successful. By then, though, it was too little too late.
Shubman Gill – 4
After bursting onto the scene in India’s famous 2020/21 series win over Australia and hitting the championship final in top form, this was a disappointing Test for the country’s latest precocious talent.
Getting off to rapid starts in both innings, just 31 runs and 34 balls faced across the match made his stays far too brief for a long-format opener; a tightening up of his defensive technique is required, as is his judgement on what to leave and what to play at.
Loses marks for his petulant tweet questioning the umpire’s decision on Green’s contentious catch that removed him for 18 on the fourth afternoon; one suspects the ICC might be sending a fine his way.
Cheteshwar Pujara – 4
Pujara has now played 35 Tests since his remarkable, legacy-defining tour of Australia in 2018/19; in that time, he has made just one century, against Bangladesh.
The veteran was the likeliest Indian to be able to replicate Smith’s patient masterclass on the first day, but in neither innings could he capitalise from a start. His second innings dismissal, caught behind attempting to uppercut Cummins, is a shot the master stonewaller would surely not have been caught dead doing in his pomp.
At 35, and especially with fellow veteran Ajinkya Rahane throwing his name back into contention with an excellent Test down the order, it wouldn’t surprise to see India soon decide it’s time to move on.
Virat Kohli – 5
After falling to Starc’s ball of the Test in the first innings, Kohli’s masterful batting on the fourth evening showed that he’s not a spent force in international cricket just yet.
Manipulating the field with aplomb and scoring at will, Kohli breezed to 44, carrying India’s faint hopes of a remarkable run chase with him into Day 5. Unfortunately for him and the millions of fans watching on, he fell into Boland’s trap, suckered in by a tempting line outside off and edging to Smith at second slip, a familiar dismissal for the legend.
Loses points for a bizarre non-effort at slip to gift Carey four runs early in his innings on the fourth morning: might things have been different had he clutched a Cameron Green-esque hanger then and there?
Ajinkya Rahane – 8.5
India have an interesting dilemma on their hands. 18 months after officially moving on from the veteran, dumping Rahane from the squad for an entire home summer, a desperate call-up with regulars Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul injured gave the 35-year old a second chance he grasped with both hands.
By some way India’s most assured batter across the Test, Rahane, long a master of tough overseas conditions, produced a glittering 89 to salvage a first innings that seemed desperate for disaster; then in the second, with wounded fingers after copping a peppering on Day 3, he gutsed his way to 46 before his dismissal to a rare lairy shot off Starc snuffed out whatever faint hopes India had of lasting the day.
Nevertheless, only Smith and Head outscored him for the Test, and with the end nigh for Pujara, there might just be a spot opening up for Rahane again after all.
Ajinkya Rahane bats. (Photo by Gareth Copley-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
Ravindra Jadeja – 6.5
Australia’s nemesis for a decade in all conditions, Jadeja’s Test was fine by anyone else’s standards: but for such a major all-round threat to be merely workmanlike was a huge win for the victors.
With his spin comfortably handled by Smith and Head in the first innings – that should put paid to any claims Ravichandran Ashwin should have been picked for a pitch always more conducive to pace bowling – the left-armer fared better in the second innings with three wickets, but he never looked likely to run through the Aussies in the way he has frequently in India.
With the bat, his speedy first-innings 48 helped resurrect the innings along with Rahane but ended before he could do any real damage to the hefty deficit, before handing Boland his second wicket in the over with a two-ball duck on the final morning.
KS Bharat (wk) – 4
As excellent as his glovework was – some of his one-handed saves throughout the Test were truly spectacular – Bharat is no Rishabh Pant. At no point throughout this match, nor the four Tests he played against Australia in India earlier this year, did the sort of counterattacking, match-turning century Pant has made his trademark ever look remotely likely.
Bharat managed just five in the first innings before being comprehensively bowled by Boland; in the second, he at least made his way to a streaky 23 before skying a slog off Lyon. His middling batting leaves India with a dilemma until Pant can return: do they stick with his superior glovework, or go for a batter-keeper like Ishan Kishan?
Shardul Thakur – 6
Far from India’s worst with the ball, Thakur’s most significant contribution to the Test was still his gutsy half-century to steer the team towards a face-saving first innings total of 296.
With just two wickets for the match – albeit a set Warner and Smith in the first innings – the all-rounder couldn’t coax demons out of the pitch in the manner of the Australian quicks, but he was probably the only member of the bowling attack to give Smith and Head something to think about during their game-changing first day partnership.
Still, the fact Sharma only entrusted him with eight overs in the second innings probably tells you were he sits in the pecking order: when Jasprit Bumrah returns from injury, Thakur is likely the one to make way.
Umesh Yadav – 2
Far, far too loose. It’s telling that, across India’s last three series against Australia plus this final, Yadav has a 1-4 record across six Tests: without him, India are 5-0 from seven.
Consistently the most expensive member of India’s attack, the 35-year old went wicketless across the first innings as he was dealt with with ease by Smith and Head, before saving some face with the wickets of Khawaja and Labuschagne in the second dig, the latter to comfortably his best ball of the match.
It was unlikely to be him to have made way for Ashwin had India gone down that path; but had they chosen the off-spinner ahead of Yadav, it’s unlikely they would have lost by quite so many.
Mohammed Shami – 3
A disappointing Test for the experienced quick and leader of the attack. So incisive and threatening in the home series against Australia, Shami was taken to the cleaners by Head early in his innings and never really recovered his mojo.
Did finish with four wickets for the match, though two of them were Starc and Cummins with Australia looking to bosh second-innings declaration runs, while he did club 13 in each innings with the bat, even if they were as agricultural as you could get.
The eye told you he bowled better than Yadav – but it was a close run thing.
Mohammed Siraj – 5
The best of India’s quicks, Siraj’s venomous opening spell on the first morning, in which he removed Usman Khawaja for a duck, was the only time they were on top in the Test.
Withered the longer the match went on, however, with two of his four first-innings wickets tailenders, though he did give Head more trouble than anyone else with his short-pitched stuff. Produced another beaut to get Warner early in Australia’s second innings, but faded from there as the match slipped further away.
