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England [294 & 329] beat Australia [225 & 263] by 135 runs in the 5th Ashes Test to draw series 2-2

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England [294 & 329] beat Australia [225 & 263] by 135 runs in the 5th Ashes Test to draw series 2-2

Although they relinquished the urn to Australia in the fourth Test in Manchester, England will be keen to finish the series level with a win in the final game at The Oval and pick up all 24 ICC World Test Championship points available.

Overview
England v Australia, 5th Test
The Oval, London
Thursday, 12 September, 11:00am local, 10:00am GMT

The home side have made two changes to their playing XI for the final Test of the series. Sam Curran, the Player of the Series in England's 4-1 win over India in 2018 makes his first outing of the series while Chris Woakes is recalled to the team after missing the Old Trafford Test. Jason Roy and Craig Overton are the men to miss out. Ben Stokes, whose masterclass at Headingley pulled England out from a tricky situation to give them their only win of the series so far, is set to have a shoulder scan. He picked up an injury at Old Trafford, pulling up in his 11th over, and he didn't bowl during Australia's second innings. He will definitely play at The Oval but it is not yet clear whether or not he will be fit to bowl.

The Test will also be the last match that Trevor Bayliss, England's World Cup-winning coach, will be in charge for.

For Australia, off-spinner Nathan Lyon is an injury concern, having split his spinning finger, but coach Justin Langer insisted "he'll be fine". The visitors have shuffled their pace attack through the series, and are likely to continue to do so. Pat Cummins, the No.1 bowler on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings for Bowlers, is the only one to have featured in all matches so far, and while Langer is keen to have him in the side to push for a 3-1 series win, he admitted that the workload was "taking a toll". Travis Head was omitted from the 12-man squad named on the eve of the Test with Mitch Marsh his likely replacement in the playing XI. Alternatively, Australia could field five frontline bowlers with skipper Tim Paine moving up to number six.

Remember the last time
Old Trafford rose in admiration for a Steve Smith masterclass. The former Australia skipper recorded his highest runs tally in a Test, scoring his third Ashes double century, followed by a crucial 82 – his lowest score in the series so far! Cummins then chipped in with four scalps in the England chase, completing an emphatic 185-run victory. The 2-1 series lead was enough for them to retain the Ashes.

Smith has accumulated 671 runs at an astounding average of 134.20 so far, even after missing the third Test and an innings in the second. Cummins has been the best bowler, with 24 scalps.

What they said
Trevor Bayliss, England head coach: "Sometimes you can only be as good as the players you've actually got in the team. We're probably still looking for a number of players to make that XI as strong as it possibly can be."

Justin Langer, Australia head coach: "If you're aspiring to be the best you can be, you've got to keep getting better to see if you can reach the standards that Steve Smith and Ben Stokes have reached this summer."

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1340446
 
Not satisfied with having retained the Ashes, Australia's Test captain Tim Paine has declared that his team won't be in any mood to relent when they clash against England in the final Test at The Oval.

Australia kept the urn in their possession when they beat England at Old Trafford by 185 runs to take an unassailable 2-1 lead. Irrespective of what happens in the fifth Test, they will now return undefeated from an Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001.

"Last week's result was brilliant and we played very well, but all the guys are fully aware that this Test is bigger," Paine said on the eve of the match. "It's our grand final. We want this Test as much as any other in this series."

While Paine has earned accolades since his team's triumph in Manchester, his England counterpart Joe Root has come under scrutiny for his batting as well as his captaincy. The Australian sympathised with Root and said that he was in the same situation after the shocking defeat at Headingley.

"A week is a long time in cricket – it was the same for me last week," Paine said. "Root is a fantastic cricketer – he averages close to 50, so I don't get sometimes why he is under so much scrutiny.

"We know how competitive he is, how good he is. We know he'll come hard and look to bounce back. He's a huge wicket for us, like he always is."

Root, who has not scored a hundred in this series, is averaging just above 30 and has three ducks in his last five innings. His Test average, which had stood at 52.80 before taking over the captaincy, has dropped by nearly five points. Since taking over from Alastair Cook in 2017, Root as captain has averaged just 40.87.

The skipper, though, denied that leadership was negatively impacting his run-scoring ways. "No. Of course, I've not performed as I would have liked, but that's part and parcel of Test cricket," he told Sky Sports.

"You've got to keep trying to find ways of counter-acting difficult passages of play and good bowling. I'll keep trying to work on that and try to improve my game."

Joe Root has suffered three ducks in the Ashes this yearJoe Root has suffered three ducks in the Ashes this year
The 28-year-old also said that the way forward for England now would be to look at the Ashes defeat as a stepping stone to better things in the future. England have already made two changes to their side, bringing in Sam Curran and Chris Woakes in place of Jason Roy and Craig Overton.

"In terms of my own captaincy, I know the direction I want to take this team forward in, and it's about starting that now and not after this series, trying to make sure that we use this as a stepping stone," Root said. "Win this game and then have a really strong winter and move forward as a group.

"We've not lost anything yet. Of course, we're disappointed not to win the Ashes back, but we're fully focused on making sure that we do everything we can to finish the series 2-2.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1341029
 
Australia have won the toss and have opted to field

Teams:

England (Playing XI) : Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Joe Root(c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow(w), Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad

Australia (Playing XI) : Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine(w/c), Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
 
Denly gone

ENG - 34/1 (9.5 Ovs)

CRR: 3.46
 
ENG 86/1 (25.0) CRR: 3.44
Day 1: Lunch Break - Australia opt to bowl
 
Paine might miss out on a great chance of leading Australia to a series win in England if his team didn't rectify the toss decision with better performance on field.
 
Aussies will end up losing this Test. They put Poms into bat on a good wicket, then dropped a sitter of Root, now facing the threat of a large first innings.

This is an Oval Test starting at almost mid September and Aussies have a brilliant finger spinner - should have definitely batted first here.
 
Root now dropped 3 times and he is only on 31* :facepalm: awful from him and from Australia as well - no idea why they chose to bowl first. Could end up being the jammiest hundred ever.
 
Neither seems to be interested in the game it seems considering the urn has already been decided.
 
ENG 107/2 (32.4) CRR: 3.28
Day 1: 2nd Session - Australia opt to bowl

Burns gone

Root crosses 7k Test runs!
 
Stokes batting at 4 today, being asked to operate as specialist bat in this test and going with five bowling options(Stokes excluded). Understandable considering there is none good enough to be classified as test class batter apart from him and Root.
 
Stokes batting at 4 today, being asked to operate as specialist bat in this test and going with five bowling options(Stokes excluded). Understandable considering there is none good enough to be classified as test class batter apart from him and Root.

Gone Stokes

ENG - 135/3 (41.1 Ovs)

CRR: 3.28
 
ENG 169/3 (52.0) CRR: 3.25
Day 1: Tea Break - Australia opt to bowl
 
ENG 179/5 (60.1) CRR: 2.98
Day 1: 3rd Session - Australia opt to bowl

Bairstow gone too
 
Loose motion has started!!!! Have to say Poms are loosing their clue for Test game. Next ECB coach MUST be someone “Test specialist” coach.
 
Loose motion has started!!!! Have to say Poms are loosing their clue for Test game. Next ECB coach MUST be someone “Test specialist” coach.

Jason Gillespie is favorite to take over
 
Curran gone too

ENG 203/6 (65.0) CRR: 3.12
Day 1: 3rd Session - Australia opt to bowl
 
ENG 205/7 (66.1) CRR: 3.1

Woakes gone too
 
England falling apart.

How many times have we seen England gifting the game to the Aussies in the Ashes?
 
Pretty embarrassing fold here.

Will be lucky to get 240.

Pitch is difficult to read, not sure if we can stay in the game or not with 240.
 
Marsh really did well with the bowl today and got good help from the conditions in terms of swing.

This pitch doesnt have a lot of seam movement as we might have seen in few previous matches becasue there is not much grass but maybe bit of cloud cover is helping some swing. I think Starc and Anderson both could have been handy here for their respective side.
 
If conditions remain the same, Sam Curran can be handy as well here along with Woakes. For Aussies all 3 of their main bowlers in Cummins, Hazlewood and Siddle are more seam bowlers than swing, Marsh does swing it a bit.
 
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Archer nicks it and has to go.

Hazlewood has his second.

England 226-8.
 
England always selects bowlers who can bat. It is a good thing.

Aussies should win this Test. Momentum is with them.
 
It's good to go into white ball mode but is it important that you go for big hits every delivery, Buttler?
 
Butler is giving the scoreboard a big boost.

England now have something to work with.
 
Vaughan being his usual tiresome and negative self. His punditry is starting to get very tedious.

Truth is, that was an enjoyable and an evenly matched day, and it’s set the teams up for what should be a highly competitive and exciting final Test.
 
England rarely fail to disappoint these days. First use of a good batting strip, advantage frittered away.

Watch Smiff get 200 tomorrow.
 
England ahead IMO as long as they find a way to get Smith out cheaply.
 
In other news, it looks like England have finally found an opener. Rory Burns is a good player.
 
n his first appearance of the series Mitchell Marsh put in a sublime performance with the ball, taking four wickets as England once again struggled with the bat.

VIEW MATCH CENTRE

Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and elected to field first, making two changes to the side that had retained the urn at Old Trafford. All-rounder Marsh came into the side for the first time this series as Travis Head dropped out and Peter Siddle returned in place of Mitchell Starc.

England also made two changes, Sam Curran replacing Surrey teammate Jason Roy and Chris Woakes returning at Craig Overton's expense.

Rory Burns and Joe Denly opened the batting for England and added 27 - remarkably the highest opening stand by either side this series - before Denly was juggled and eventually caught at second slip by Steve Smith off the bowling of Pat Cummins.

Joe Denly made 14 before being dismissed by CumminsJoe Denly made 14 before being dismissed by Cummins
The dismissal of Denly bought England captain Joe Root to the crease and the despite not being in his most fluent form he battled through the interval, albeit with some luck - he was dropped three times in all. The first profligate fielder was Peter Siddle, who shelled a straightforward chance at fine leg as Root looked to pull Pat Cummins.

Peter Siddle drops Joe RootPeter Siddle drops Joe Root
Root's second life came shortly after as Paine, diving across David Warner at first slip, spilled a chance, and Australia's struggles continued after the break as Siddle saw Root dropped by a diving Steve Smith, positioned at a wide second slip.

Whilst Root struggled, he did bring up 7,000 Test runs during his innings. It's a landmark only Wally Hammond, Sir Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen have reached quicker for England, and that no player has got there quicker in terms of time is a marker of his enduring class.

Meanwhile, Burns went quietly about his business, much as he has done throughout this Test series. He went to 46 with a lovely shot through the covers but was dismissed a run later as he tried to pull Josh Hazlewood, mistimed badly, and sent it straight to Marsh at short midwicket.


ICC

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A fine achievement from the England captain ��

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Ben Stokes could only make 20 before he fell in similar fashion to Burns, misjudging a pull shot which ended up in Nathan Lyon’s hands at point.

Jonny Bairstow joined Root as the pair looked to rebuild the England innings, but with the partnership worth 40 Root was bowled by a beauty from Cummins that nipped away to hit off stump.

Bairstow followed Root to the pavilion six runs later as Marsh returned to the attack and trapped the England wicket-keeper lbw.

Sam Curran came in and hooked his third ball for six. He then received a major let off; having been trapped LBW by Cummins, replays showed the bowler had overstepped.


ICC

@ICC
It's all happening at The Oval!

Australia have taken two wickets in four overs and it could have been a third had Pat Cummins not overstepped!

Sam Curran the lucky batsman getting the reprieve ��

Follow #ENGvAUS �� http://bit.ly/Eng-v-Aus5

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But Curran couldn’t make Australia pay as he looked to drive Marsh to the boundary and only succeeded in edging to Smith at second slip.

Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer couldn’t offer much support to Jos Buttler but Jack Leach, who has earned cult status for his fight with bat in hand this series, once again played the perfect foil.

Leach was determined in defence whilst Buttler cut loose, hitting Hazlewood for back-to-back maximums straight back over his head, soon reaching his first Test half-century of the summer.

The pair saw England to stumps with the score 271/8, having added 45 for the ninth wicket, and given England a foothold in a game that had been slipping away from them.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1341627
 
The Ashes | England v Australia | 5th Test | The Oval | Sep 12-16, 2019 | Match Thread

What an incredible delivery that was by Cummins to remove Root! Pure class!
 
Day 2: Innings Break

ENG - 294-all out (87.1 Ovs)

CRR: 3.37
 
That didn't look out, the umpire should have checked more he should have zoomed in on ultra edge. There seemed to be daylight between bat and ball when ultra edge showed.
 
ENG 294
AUS 55/2 (19.0) CRR: 2.89
Day 2: Lunch Break - Australia trail by 239 runs
 
Day 2: 2nd Session - Australia trail by 211 runs

ENG - 294
AUS - 83/3 (29.2 Ovs)

CRR: 2.83
 
Smith is the Donald Bradman of our times. It is surprising because he has reasonably bad techniques.
 
This Sri Lankan third umpire is an absolute idiot, either that or he's certifiably blind and can't spot when the ball hits the bat. Cannot believe how the ICC keep employing incompetent individuals in such important positions. Wade absolutely smashed that in to his pad and this chap somehow saw a gap between bat and ball. The mind absolutely boggles.
 
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Even though both teams currently have serious flaws, Ashes tests played in England have been competitive and entertaining for the past 15 years.

How weak is this Aussie batting lineup though? Neither opener can buy a run, then you have Mitch Marsh and Wade at 5 and 6.
 
Smith is literally 50% of Aussie batting. Heck he's like 30% of the entire 2 team's batting combined.
 
Get Smith out and England will atleast be assured they won't lost the series to Australia at home.
 
I say he is 80% batting.

I can't see Aussies winning a Test series against a top team without Smith.

Impact wise close to 90%. Dude is literally on God mode in a team with minnow batting line up.

England would have destroyed Australia without Smith. They might not have anybody half as good, but overall their batting is much better. I can expect England to score 250 every other innings. Australia won't score more than 150 in any innings without Smith.
 
Smith is literally 50% of Aussie batting. Heck he's like 30% of the entire 2 team's batting combined.

The most impressive thing is that he is able to bat in isolation. Like whatever is happening around him is irrelevant
 
How did Aussie batting become so bad? They haven't had many great batsmen since Clarke retired.
 
Day 2: 2nd Session - Australia trail by 157 runs

ENG - 294
AUS - 137/4 (41.4 Ovs)

CRR: 3.29
 
AUS 156/4 (47.0) CRR: 3.32
Day 2: 3rd Session - Australia trail by 138 runs
 
If conditions remain the same, Sam Curran can be handy as well here along with Woakes. For Aussies all 3 of their main bowlers in Cummins, Hazlewood and Siddle are more seam bowlers than swing, Marsh does swing it a bit.

So Curran is coming in handy. :smith
 
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