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Australia have reached stumps at 1/61 to have their noses in front of the fifth Ashes Test – but the opening day’s play at the Oval was far from smooth sailing for the tourists.
Having dropped five catches throughout the day, three in the first session alone, to threaten to let England off the hook after Pat Cummins won his first toss of the series and elected to bowl, the hosts lost four wickets for just 28 runs in nine dramatic overs just after lunch to turn a commanding 3/184 into an underwhelming 283 all out off just 54.4 eventful overs.
The scorecard reads eerily similarly to corresponding Test in the 2019 Ashes, where then-captain Tim Paine also opted to send England in: that score of 299 amid a plethora of spilled chances from the visitors, though, was made at a far slower clip than Ben Stokes’ team’s current approach, with Harry Brook’s 91-ball 85 providing the lion’s share of the thrills this time.
But while their scoring rate rarely dipped below five an over and finished on 5.17, only a fraction below their onslaught at Manchester, this time Australia were able to find regular inroads, led by Mitchell Starc (4/82), whose peach to send Stokes’ off stump flying only has his own offering to dismiss Ollie Pope at Lord’s for competition for ball of the series.
With England also dealing with a groin injury to Moeen Ali and some discomfort for Chris Woakes, though the latter was able to bowl late in the day and prove his fitness by removing David Warner (24) for the third consecutive innings, it is advantage Australia to start the match: but they will no doubt be ruing spurning the opportunity to reduce the hosts to a much lower total.
David Warner is dismissed by Chris Woakes. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
222 runs in arrears and with Usman Khawaja (26 not out) and Marnus Labuschagne (2) still at the crease, Day 2 still presents as a golden chance for Australia to do as they haven’t throughout the series, and bat England out of the match.
Having at last won a toss after calling incorrectly four times out of four previously, Cummins opted to continue the series’ trend and insert England, as much to deny them their desire to chase under Stokes as to make use of bowler-friendly conditions on the first morning.
Sure enough, both Starc and Josh Hazlewood failed to make early inroads and were loose with the new ball, Ben Duckett in particular keen to play the aggressor by regularly dancing down the track to punch the Aussie attack back down the ground.
Bringing himself on after the first eight overs had leaked 41 runs, Cummins should have had the left-hander after enticing a regulation edge to Warner at first slip, only for the veteran to see the simple offering burst through his fingers over his head.
Already on 30, the miss looked set to prove costly, as did a much tougher miss from Steve Smith in the next over, unable to cling on diving to his right at second slip after Zak Crawley edged Mitchell Marsh.
Neither opener, though, would capitalise from their reprieves, Duckett gloving Marsh down the leg side to Alex Carey for 41 as the visitors successfully overturned the on-field call of not out, and Crawley following an over later after offering a more regulation chance to Smith off Cummins.
When Joe Root fell for 5 dragging a trademark late cut back onto his stumps off Hazlewood, England were 3/73, and threatening to cede control of the morning session to Australia.
That should have become 4/78 when Cummins found Brook’s edge on 5, but Carey, committing early to a one-handed dive to his right that proved thinner than he had anticipated, would provide the morning’s third drop; and the Aussies wouldn’t escape punishment for this one.
Where Duckett and Crawley hadn’t cashed in, Brook would fare far better: beginning in streaky fashion with another flashed boundary wide of the cordon, a brutal square drive off Hazlewood would provide the English prodigy with the settler he needed.
Together with Moeen Ali, the 24-year old wouldn’t just steer the hosts to the safety of lunch, but back into a position of strength, an imperious launch of Marsh for six back over his head the most imperious of his swathe of boundaries.
Two fours and a six off consecutive Starc balls, crashing two full offerings through cover point before depositing the third into the mid-wicket stands when the left-armer tried shorter, Brook headed to the break on 48 off 41 balls, his partnership with Moeen having swelled to 58 of which he’d provided the vast majority.
Bringing up his half-century shortly after, Brook seemed the only one capable of ending his stay, an ambitious tip-and-run into the off side giving Cummins the chance to run him out in his follow-through: the throw, though, would miss.
That quick single, and a similar one in the next over, would take a toll on Moeen, however; calling for the physio having sustained an apparent groin strain, the all-rounder’s injury would prove serious enough to render him unable to bowl later in the day, and leave his participation across the rest of the match under a cloud.
His immediate response, though, was to keep batting – and up the ante. On 11 off 38 balls when his groin went, Moeen would signal his desire to have a crack by swatting Cummins over mid-wicket for six.
Another would follow in the captain’s next over, a top-edge over fine leg, while he’d even ramp Cummins over Carey’s head for another four as his final nine balls saw him add 23 runs.
Todd Murphy’s introduction, having been kept from the attack in the first session after being recalled at Cameron Green’s expense, would soon put an end to Moeen’s fun, copping one more boundary before a slider went right through his spin-bowling counterpart’s heave across the line and into middle and leg.
The partnership, though, had blossomed to 111, and with Stokes the new man in the middle, the day was still England’s.
Enter Starc. The pick of the Australian bowlers more often than not since being overlooked for the first Test of the series, the left-armer leaving Stokes in disbelief after flattening his off stump with fierce movement off the wicket from a middle stump line.
He’d add Brook a few overs later for 85, a thick outside edge off another expansive drive safely pouched by Smith; in between, Hazlewood ensured there would be no repeat of his Manchester fireworks for Jonny Bairstow as he joined Root in inside-edging onto his own pegs.
Suddenly 7/212, it was only another late rearguard from Chris Woakes and Mark Wood that saved England’s blushes, the pair once again frustrating the Australians with tight defence interspersed with attacking strokeplay that made a mockery of their tailend status.
Continuing to punish the quicks whenever they dropped short, Wood even deigned to copy Brook and dance down the track to Marsh to loft him back over his head.
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With the eighth-wicket stand having reached 38 by tea, a score of 300 again looked in play, especially when Woakes’ hopeful review having been given out LBW by Starc two balls after the resumption picked up an inside edge even he hadn’t detected.
Celebrating by superbly timing a square drive for four next ball, and then given another life one later when Marsh put down a regulation chance in the gully, Woakes dragged England ever closer to a recovery; with the stand having reached 48, it fell to Murphy to swing things back Australia’s way.
Reintroduced having been once again underused by Cummins for the first two sessions, the spinner would again strike in his first over of a spell – and once more following a boundary with a wicket, Wood’s latest heave skidding on past his outside edge and into the top of off.
Stuart Broad lasted long enough to flay Starc for four wide of gully before backing away and offering Travis Head catching practice at cover under a skied slog as the innings’ end loomed.
While Murphy would cost himself a third by shelling a simple caught-and-bowled to bring the drop count up to five, it would only cost Australia 11 as Woakes lofted Starc down the ground for six, bisected the two deep fielders for four through point, then picked out Head at deep backward square to end the innings and leave the left-armer with a four-wicket haul.
Having simultaneously threatened another day of dominance as well as total collapse, England’s eventual tally of 283 still felt slightly under par, especially when Warner and Khawaja began Australia’s response in measured fashion.
With Warner successfully surviving an early burst from his nemesis Broad and gleefully dispatching anything loose from James Anderson, whose struggles this series showed no signs of abating, the closest shout came when England reviewed a caught behind off Broad only to find a sharp lifter hadn’t flicked the left-hander’s glove before rebounding off his shoulder through to Bairstow.
His luck seemed to be in when a regulation edge off the pacier Wood bewildered the bowler by failing to carry to the keeper; but having once again got himself set, Warner would throw away his start with the partnership just one shy of 50.
Woakes’ probing line, having started as accurately as ever despite spending time off the field with a lower leg concern, once again provided England with the breakthrough, Warner drawn into driving outside off and superbly taken by Crawley diving to his left at slip to continue his excellent series in the cordon.
Stumps became the priority for Khawaja and Labuschagne from there, England bowling three straight maidens at the pair before the former drove Anderson for four when the veteran strayed full to break the shackles.
It would be the last shot in anger for the day, one last spell from Broad safely defused as Australia reached stumps at 1/61; still 222 behind England’s first-innings total, but with plenty of batting still to come.
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