England regained the Ashes by winning the final match. Because the series was at stake, the match was to be "timeless", i.e. played to a finish. Australia had a narrow first innings lead of 22. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe took the score to 49–0 at the end of the second day, a lead of 27. Heavy rain fell overnight, and next day the pitch soon developed into a traditional sticky wicket. England seemed certain to be bowled out cheaply and to lose the match. In spite of the very difficult batting conditions, however, Hobbs and Sutcliffe took their partnership to 172 before Hobbs was out for exactly 100. Sutcliffe went on to make 161 and in the end England won the game comfortably.
Ceylon
As on some previous visits to England, the Australian team had a stopover en route in Colombo and played a one-day single-innings match against the Ceylon national team which at that time did not have first-class status. The Australians won by 37 runs.[3]
