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Jofra Archer’s six-fer denied Steve Smith the chance to run away with the match yet as England took command of the fifth and final Test match at The Oval on day two. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of Day 3, starting from 8pm AEST.
It’s tough to imagine which side would be ruing things more; Tim Paine’s Australia on opting to field first after winning the toss or Joe Root’s England for not bringing in Sam Curran earlier into the equation.
Because as things stand at the end of the second day, England have been handed the advantage, thanks to the combination of a shock Paine call at the toss and Curran’s three-wicket haul including two wickets off successive deliveries that broke the Aussie lower-middle order back.
When the day finished, England were leading by 78 runs with all their wickets intact and with three full days of play remaining – the weather, for now, looks great – this looks like it’s headed in the general direction of the hosts.
Unless someone from the touring party can replicate what Archer did for England.
Because Curran might have grabbed those three for his side but it was Archer who kept doing what he had done all series. And this time around, he was rewarded for it more handsomely than most other innings bar Headingley.
While there were some social media murmurings about how Root might have over-bowled Archer right throughout the series, the absence of Ben Stokes’ bowling, and Chris Woakes’ swing made it difficult for the captain to take the ball off his hands.
Archer bowled nearly 24 overs, seven more than the next-most by an English bowler and he never stopped picking up the Aussie wickets.
When it came to the Australian batting, the narrative wasn’t too different. Steven Smith scored a lot of runs, he was supported by Marnus Labuschange but there wasn’t too much else to gloat about.
The openers fell early again, although there were a few doubts about David Warner’s early dismissal this time and once Archer had broken the third wicket stand between Smith and Labuschagne, there was no partnership that exceeded 42.
So when the play resumes on day three, Australia have a mountain to climb on a pitch that hasn’t looked as dodgy as the scores have suggested so far.
But a dry Oval pitch could get trickier to bat as the match progresses, which is why if Paine would like to not live to regret his call to field first, his bowlers have to stand up from the get go.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this third day of the fifth Ashes Test between England and Australia from 8pm (AEST) and don’t forget to drop a comment in the section below.
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