Melbourne miracle of 1998 shows ‘dead-rubber’ fourth Ashes Tests do matter | Rob Smyth

England’s victory on Test cricket’s longest day, as Darren Gough and Dean Headley bowled themselves into the ground and Ashes folklore, is a brilliant precedent for the current team after their surrender of the urn

The most frustrating thing about England in the 1990s was not how bad they often were, it was how good they could be when the handbrake came off. Victories were often achieved in spectacular style, especially against Australia. Although England lost every Ashes series in that decade, they were never whitewashed and usually had a win to cherish. Those victories were particularly precious at the end of a long, draining tour. The glorious turnarounds at Adelaide in 1995 and Melbourne in 1998, both in the fourth Test after the Ashes had been retained by Australia, are usually referred to as “dead-rubber victories”. It’s a slightly unfair label that belittles the Herculean task of winning any Test in Australia.

I walked past Steve Waugh and he said: ‘You’re an absolute effing embarrassment.’ The only response I could think was a short, sharp: ‘Eff off.’ Then he had me caught at fly slip

The jubilation afterwards in the dressing-room was incredible. There was such a sense of achievement. They are brilliant, brilliant memories

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