Important contributions from Steve Smith, Pat Cummins and Todd Murphy gave Australia the first-innings advantage in the final and fifth Ashes Test at the Oval. In what proved to be a chaotic afternoon of the game, pendulum swings each day, with the hosts ultimately being dismissed for 295 on the last stroke of stumps, and gaining an ungainly 12-run advantage.
The day started in a calm manner in that both teams gave no concessions in the first half of play. James Anderson posed some questions to Usman Khawaja and Mark Wood kept it quiet while the overnight batters bat out whole session. Stuart Broad was the only bowler who was close to get one before the drinks break as he sped over Marnus Labuschagne’s outer edge several times. Australia scored just 21 runs before England finally achieved a breakthrough when Joe Root took a stunning catch at the slip and sent Labuschagne home.
Aussies have scored only 54 runs during the morning session for the loss of a wicket, but it was after lunch that the pace of play really increased. England returned in style by grabbing wickets in regular intervals. Smith batted well at one point, however at the other it was more of the same. Broad hit a few early blows in the match by first getting Khawaja leg-before-wicket and then securing the edge of Travis Head.
Mitchell Marsh threatened with couple of boundaries but he inside-edged one on his stumps to James Anderson. Alex Carey ended up departing in a timely manner as he smashed a ball straight to the short cover after he had blasted the previous delivery to score 6 against Joe Root. England finished off a great session with the wicket of Mitchell Starc and at this moment, Australia were still trailing by 93 runs.
Then, Smith and Cummins dragged team back into the game after their Tea break. In the early part of the session, Smith survived a run-out appeal that seemed to favor of England and then pushed himself to a 50 after slamming two boundaries off Broad.
Cummins also overcame a decision for lbw, and was able to overturn the umpire’s decision in his favor and also score important runs. Both batters gradually managed to cut the deficit to below 50, but Smith finally trapped after edging Chris Woakes that resulted in a mistake.
England’s hopes of taking an adequate lead in the first innings fell rapidly as Murphy appeared with guns blasting. The batter in the lower order took three short balls from Wood in two overs, and smashed the ball over the long leg to score three sixes that astonished fans at home.
With Cummins fighting hard on the other side an irritating wicketless period was expected for England and cost them dearly as Australia was able to recoup the deficit and take the lead. In the end, the lead was reduced to a mere tenth of a point and the teams are ready for a second shootout with three days remaining.
