England look to provide fitting finale to memorable summer at the Oval

And so to the Oval for a decider that will cap off an already memorable summer of Test cricket. England, reborn under Ben Stokes, could register their best home season for 18 years with a sixth win, while South Africa hope to reclaim the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy with what would be their third series win on these shores since readmission.

So far we have witnessed the two sides register a thumping innings victory apiece, the pendulum swinging from South Africa’s storming of Lord’s to Stokes powering his side to parity in Manchester. There have been just six days of cricket – just under, in fact – and so while the forecast is iffy, the draw still feels like an outside bet.

At the Oval there is a rich sense of history and in recent times plenty between the two teams, be it Devon Malcolm’s nine-wicket display of shock and awe in 1994, Hashim Amla’s masterful triple century in 2012 – the first by a South African – or the joyful scenes that followed confirmation of Moeen Ali’s hat-trick five years ago.

The ground has also seen a few titans head off into the sunset over the years, with Don Bradman, Viv Richards, Curtly Ambrose, Andrew Flintoff and Alastair Cook among them. Cook did it best, of course, practically ensuring his retirement would be irreversible with a farewell century against India in 2018 that had the crowd swooning.

But there is currently no sense of an impending swansong this week despite Jimmy Anderson recently entering his fifth decade and Stuart Broad’s broadcasting talents being much coveted by Sky. Certainly Stokes does not anticipate a quiet word from either, not least with an Ashes series next summer that is done by the end of July. “I honestly just can’t see a point where they decide it’s time to step