It doesn’t matter who you support, England or Australia, it’s a safe bet that supporters from both sides will agree the standard of umpiring this 2009 Ashes series has been nothing short of abysmal.

On July 8th, Mitchell Johnson bowled the opening ball of the 2009 Ashes, an inconsequential length delivery outside off stump.

Six weeks and four tumultuous tests later, we’re no closer to knowing where the Ashes are going than we were that morning in Cardiff. From Monty Panesar saving England at the Swalec stadium, to Flintoff’s triumphant re-emergance at Lord’s, all the way to Clarke and North’s stubborn last-day defiance at Edgbaston and Stuart Clark’s incredible comeback in Yorkshire, it’s been a wildly unpredictable series (if not always a high-quality one).

None of what has gone before is of any relevance though, because the Ashes will be decided over the next five days at the Oval. England will desperately try to shore up a shaky middle order, hoping that the pitch and weather don’t hinder their chances of winning back the Ashes. Australia meanwhile are looking to somehow maintain the quality of play seen at Headingley two weeks ago and scramble over the finish line one way or another.

For players on both sides, the final test of a level Ashes series is the most high-pressure scenario imaginable. A match-winning performance in this match will make up for an entire career of underachievement, while a dropped catch or poor shot will haunt them for the rest of their lives. The biggest five days of cricket for years starts tomorrow.

Here we take a look at previous Test series which were all-square going into the last, to see historically what has happened

Sri Lanka all-rounder Chaminda Vaas announced his retirement from Test cricket late last month bringing an end to his 15-year test career.

Cricket Web Staff Member Neil Pickup has reviewed Ashes Cricket 2009 detailing the highs and lows of the latest release in the continued series of cricket arcade games.

The purpose of this article is to have a look at Laker’s approach in order to see just how accurate or otherwise his predictions were and then for the writer to try and project the game forward again, this time, less ambitiously, to 21 years hence.

OK, so we’ve come down to a nice’n’simple equation: there’s one Test remaining; if England win it, they win The Ashes; if they don’t win it, they lose them. So now’s the time to pick the best team, and hang the future.

Freddy Flintoff shows off his skills in an amusing video for Puma’s new small, extra small and extra extra small koala box.

Flintoff explains the Australian Koala box is tough, tiny, and made of titanium to protect the Australians from “people like me”.

You can watch the video below.

After the Ashes, England’s Test side will enter a new era, one where Andrew Flintoff in particular will need to be replaced. How should England balance their team without Flintoff, and who are the likely contenders to join the England squad in the future?

This week we look at the duckless sequences, the rain rules, the long runs of toss victories and losses, Mahendra Dhoni and his strokeplay, and more.