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As expected Australia claimed victory in the fourth day, bowling the English out to win by an innings and 46 runs after a brief rain delay.
>>REPORT: Australia send off Clarke, Rogers with fifth-test win
Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers finished their careers of on a high, while future skipper Steve Smith was named Man of the Match.
England gritted their way to a fighting second innings effort but Australia look to be within touching distance of going home with a consolation win. The fourth day of this fifth Ashes Test match will be played at The Oval on Sunday and you can follow the live blog from 8:00pm AEST.
Things moved along at a slow pace right throughout the third day after England were made to follow-on by Michael Clarke.
Clarke, who had never enforced a follow-on in his entire Test career before this game, decided to go for the jugular, with his decision partially being influenced by the weather forecast.
Starting off on Sunday afternoon, it’s expected to rain hard in London and Australia wouldn’t want to go back with a draw brought about by the weather.
In their second innings, after having lost their last two wickets in the first innings off successive deliveries to Mitchell Johnson, England opted to go for an approach that hasn’t been seen all series.
With all talk around aggression and a positive approach towards the Tests, batsmen have often been found wanting against genuine swing. England have obviously batted better as a team after Australia faced some trying conditions in the previous two games, but this was an approach not too dissimilar from the one Australia had taken in the first hour of play on day one of this Test.
Except that Alastair Cook and company tried to bat in that vein through the entire duration of the 79 overs they faced.
The approach almost reaped benefits and they could easily have ended the day losing a couple of wickets less than the six they did.
For instance when Jonny Bairstow fell after his partnership with Cook, a slightly more sensible approach from Ben Stokes could have helped.
Similarly, Cook’s wicket at the fag end of the day ensured there was no heroics from the English captain on the fourth day, despite his massive 234-ball effort on day three.
What England can still hope is for their last four wickets to carry on batting until the heavens open.
The late wicket of Cook leaves this responsibility in the hands of Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali, with Mark Wood currently at the crease as the night watchman.
Moeen has batted with aggression in the past in this series but in the first innings of this Test, he battled through 61 balls, before being the last man out. With Buttler’s stay at the crease on day three having given him some confidence after having struggled through the first four Tests, England will hope.
Hope to bat as long as they can until it rains. And then hope the rain doesn’t stop for a long time, enough to give them an outside chance of escaping with a draw.
From Australia’s point of view, they need to keep doing what they have been doing all game. Bowl the channels, keep pegging away and the mistakes will come.
The track after all, continues to offer reasonable movement for the bowlers and with the new ball just an over away, they will be looking at four good deliveries to end this difficult series on a positive note.
Follow the live scores and blog of this fourth day of the fifth Ashes 2015 Test between England and Australia from 08:00pm AEST on Sunday and post your comments in the section below.
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