Underpinned by Steven Smith, Australia’s tortoises eked out a slender first-innings lead over England’s hares at The Oval. England had thrashed 283 in 54.4 overs on the first day, but Australia responded at a different tempo altogether.
They edged ahead after exactly 99 overs of their innings, thanks in no small part to their captain, Pat Cummins. Cummins came in at 185 for 7, with Australia still 98 behind, but shared partnerships worth 54 with Smith, and then 49 with Todd Murphy in making 36.
Each of England’s four seamers bowled at least 20 overs with Moeen Ali – who sustained a groin injury while batting on the first day – spending the entirety of the second in the dressing room. Chris Woakes finished with 3 for 61, but Stuart Broad was the pick of the attack.
Australia went nowhere for much of the morning session, adding 13 runs off the bat in the first hour of play, but Smith’s arrival at the crease – after Marnus Labuschagne was brilliantly caught by Joe Root at slip – changed the rhythm of the game.
He crashed consecutive early boundaries through mid-off off James Anderson, breaking Don Bradman’s record for the most runs by an overseas batter at The Oval with the first of them, and held Australia’s innings together after lunch as five wickets fell at the far end.
Broad broke the game open, taking two wickets in his first two overs after the interval to remove Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, while none of Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc reached 20 as England sensed the possibility of a substantial lead.
But after Smith survived a narrow judgement call from TV umpire Nitin Menon on a run-out chance and Cummins overturned an lbw decision, Australia chipped away at the deficit. Murphy played his shots from No. 10, hooking Mark Wood for the first, second and third sixes of his professional career, and flicked a single off his pads to long leg to bring them into the lead.
After Woakes trapped Murphy lbw, Cummins swiped Joe Root down the ground only for Ben Stokes to take a sharp catch on the boundary at long-on. It meant a first-innings lead of just 12 runs, with the fifth Test effectively becoming a one-innings shoot-out.
Australia crawled along in the first session, adding 54 runs in 26 overs before lunch. Conditions were grim and murky, suiting England’s seamers, and Khawaja and Labuschagne opted for resolute defence; Labuschagne was particularly obdurate, taking nearly 90 minutes over adding seven runs to his overnight score.
It took a moment of individual brilliance to dismiss him. Mark Wood, slamming one in halfway down the pitch, drew an outside edge which flew towards the gap between Jonny Bairstow and Root at first slip. Bairstow left the ball for Root, who reacted late but flung himself low to his left and grasped it one-handed.
Khawaja made it to lunch unscathed, but fell five balls later for 47. He was trapped on the knee roll by Broad, and his review was optimistic. Broad roused the crowd in characteristic style and diverged from England’s usual short-ball ploy to Travis Head; instead, he went full outside off stump, and wheeled away celebrating after finding his outside edge.
Marsh decided that the only way to break Broad’s rhythm was to attack, and launched him for a towering straight six. But his dismissal came through a more tentative shot, inside-edging onto his own stumps as he prodded at Anderson, who looked relieved to have taken another wicket, finally ending a 35.2-over drought.
With Moeen off the field, Root was England’s only spin option. He was clobbered for a straight six by Carey, who then chipped the very next ball he faced – a slow, loopy, wide offbreak – to Stokes at short cover. When Starc top-edged Wood to long leg, Australia looked in deep trouble.
On 42, Smith appeared to have run himself out when working a ball into the leg side and taking on George Ealham, a substitute fielder whose father, Mark, played for England in the 1990s. Ealham charged in from deep midwicket and threw at the stumps before Bairstow whipped the bails off with Smith, diving at full stretch, short of his ground.
Or so it first seemed. Menon, the TV umpire, was unconvinced that the shorter spigot of the first bail that was dislodged had left the top of the stumps by the time that Smith’s bat went past the popping crease; the crowd groaned as his ‘not out’ decision flashed up on the big screen. Smith breathed a sigh of relief, then pounded Broad down the ground to reach 50.
When England took the new ball, Cummins was given out lbw by Joel Wilson but successfully reviewed, and a couple of inside-edged boundaries gave Australia their first 50-run stand of the innings. Smith eventually fell when looking to whip Woakes over square leg, with Harry Brook brought up from the boundary; Bairstow ran back and settled under his leading edge.
England went short to Murphy but abandoned that ploy after he swiped Wood away over long leg, before a flick off Anderson took Australia into a slender lead. He made 34 vital runs before Woakes trapped him leg-before, but his biggest role in this match will come on Saturday as he looks to prevent England setting a substantial fourth-innings target.
(Story by Matt Roller from ESPNcricinfo)
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