England 258-8 against Australia as rain stops play

Just as the eventual scoreline of 3-2 in England’s favour did not alter Clarke’s feelings about the overall series, victorious captain Alastair Cook was unchanged in his opinion.

After an hour at Cardiff England were holding on for grim life at 43 for three, nearly swamped by the power of Australia’s pace.

All summer there has been debate about whether England doctored pitches to suit their swing and seam attack, and Clarke said he would like groundsmen to be entirely neutral in their approach to preparing wickets. “You set the game up by playing low-risk cricket shots for high reward”.

England then trounced the Aussies by eight wickets in the Third Test at Edgbaston before regaining the Ashes when they won by an innings and 78 runs in the Fourth Test at Trent Bridge.

Meanwhile, Warner replied by tweeting, “Was a great series, well done England!!”

The crowd have been fantastic, wonderful at every one of the five venues. “In the same breath I cherish how lucky I’ve been to be able to play against England as regularly as I have, and play against India and South Africa and Bangladesh, whether it’s Test, one-day or Twenty20 cricket”. There was not much pressure on us really.

Clarke was given a guard of honour by his teammates at the end of play and received yet another standing ovation.

He said: “I don’t know what influence the European Central Bank had, and I don’t know what influence the Board has in Australia, either, to be honest”. It has to rank right up there.

The 37-year-old is hoping Australia can pick themselves up for the final Test as he and Clarke bow out of the global game. “Today was not about me however concerning the staff and I am extremely proud to have been their captain”.

However, Cook admitted that he was disappointed with his team’s performance in the final Test.

“They’ve got some things to work on, there are some negatives there”, he said.

“But credit to Australia and the character they showed”.

“It was a tough series for batsmen”, said Smith, who made a career-best 215 in Australia’s 405-run win in the second Test at Lord’s – over the other side of London’s River Thames from The Oval.

“We put some faith in our two left-armers – whether that was the right balance or not, we might have to look back on that”, he said.

Cricket: As Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers played their last global tests for Australia, the spotlight was never far from the pair.