Steven Smith 71 key as Australia take gradual street to slender lead

Australia 295 (Smith 71, Woakes 3-61) lead England 283 by 12 runs

Australia went nowhere for a lot of the morning session, including 13 runs off the bat within the first hour of play, however Smith’s arrival on the crease – after Marnus Labuschagne was brilliantly caught by Joe Root at slip – modified the rhythm of the sport.

He crashed consecutive early boundaries via mid-off off James Anderson, breaking Don Bradman’s report for probably the most runs by an abroad batter at The Oval with the primary of them, and held Australia’s innings collectively after lunch as 5 wickets fell on the far finish.

Broad broke the sport open, taking two wickets in his first two overs after the interval to take away Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, whereas none of Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc reached 20 as England sensed the potential of a considerable lead.

But after Smith survived a slim judgement name from TV umpire Nitin Menon on a run-out likelihood and Cummins overturned an lbw resolution, Australia chipped away on the deficit. Murphy performed his photographs from No. 10, hooking Mark Wood for the primary, second and third sixes of his skilled profession, and flicked a single off his pads to lengthy leg to convey them into the lead.

After Woakes trapped Murphy lbw, Cummins swiped Joe Root down the bottom just for Ben Stokes to take a pointy catch on the boundary at long-on. It meant a first-innings lead of simply 12 runs, with the fifth Test successfully turning into a one-innings shoot-out.

Australia crawled alongside within the first session, including 54 runs in 26 overs earlier than lunch. Conditions have been grim and murky, suiting England’s seamers, and Khawaja and Labuschagne opted for resolute defence; Labuschagne was notably stubborn, taking almost 90 minutes over including seven runs to his in a single day rating.

It took a second of particular person brilliance to dismiss him. Mark Wood, slamming one in midway down the pitch, drew an out of doors edge which flew in direction of the hole between Jonny Bairstow and Root at first slip. Bairstow left the ball for Root, who reacted late however flung himself low to his left and grasped it one-handed.

Khawaja made it to lunch unscathed, however fell 5 balls later for 47. He was trapped on the knee roll by Broad, and his evaluate was optimistic. Broad roused the group in attribute type and diverged from England’s traditional short-ball ploy to Travis Head; as an alternative, he went full outdoors off stump, and wheeled away celebrating after discovering his outdoors edge.

Marsh determined that the one technique to break Broad’s rhythm was to assault, and launched him for a towering straight six. But his dismissal got here via a extra tentative shot, inside-edging onto his personal stumps as he prodded at Anderson, who regarded relieved to have taken one other wicket, lastly ending a 35.2-over drought.

With Moeen off the sphere, Root was England’s solely spin possibility. He was clobbered for a straight six by Carey, who then chipped the very subsequent ball he confronted – a gradual, crazy, large offbreak – to Stokes at brief cowl. When Starc top-edged Wood to lengthy leg, Australia regarded in serious trouble.

On 42, Smith appeared to have run himself out when working a ball into the leg facet and taking over George Ealham, a substitute fielder whose father, Mark, performed for England within the Nineties. Ealham charged in from deep midwicket and threw on the stumps earlier than Bairstow whipped the bails off with Smith, diving at full stretch, wanting his floor.

Or so it first appeared. Menon, the TV umpire, was unconvinced that the shorter spigot of the primary bail that was dislodged had left the highest of the stumps by the point that Smith’s bat went previous the popping crease; the group groaned as his ‘not out’ resolution flashed up on the large display. Smith breathed a sigh of reduction, then pounded Broad down the bottom to achieve 50.

When England took the brand new ball, Cummins was given out lbw by Joel Wilson however efficiently reviewed, and a few inside-edged boundaries gave Australia their first 50-run stand of the innings. Smith finally fell when trying to whip Woakes over sq. leg, with Harry Brook introduced up from the boundary; Bairstow ran again and settled beneath his vanguard.

England went brief to Murphy however deserted that ploy after he swiped Wood away over lengthy leg, earlier than a flick off Anderson took Australia right into a slender lead. He made 34 important runs earlier than Woakes trapped him leg-before, however his largest position on this match will come on Saturday as he appears to stop England setting a considerable fourth-innings goal.