Steve Smith to seal the outright Ashes win?

It's all over bar the shouting. Australia have retained the Ashes, England's second objective of their glorious World-Cup-winning summer has eluded them, and all that remains is a fifth Test at The Oval where a significant measure of pride can be upheld, if not any tangible rewards.

But nevertheless, the difference between 2-2 in a five-Test series and 3-1 is not to be sniffed at, and having named an unchanged 13-man squad, England have challenged the side that fell short at Old Trafford last week to redouble its efforts and get back to winning ways.

The bookmakers, however, aren't entirely convinced they can do it. Australia remain the slender favourites to close out the match and hence the series - they are 21/20 to do just that, against England's more generous (though hardly compelling) price of 6/4.

As for Australia's chances of achieving an outright Ashes win - they are little different of course, although seeing a draw at The Oval (5/1) would also suffice for a 2-1 win, they are slightly stronger favourites for that achievement, at 8/15, compared to 6/4 for the 2-2 scoreline.

If there's a reason for Australia's success, and their ongoing favouritism, then it is clearly the presence in their ranks of the one indisputable genius on display. Steven Smith has got 671 from five innings in the series to date, and in two previous Tests at The Oval, he has racked up two further hundreds.

Smith is duly 9/2 to be the Player of the Match at The Oval, half the price of Ben Stokes (9/1), the next most favoured candidate.