This Ashes series’ headline verdict may already be set in stone, but even two days into the Oval’s half-dead rubber, the culture clash goes on without a definite winner.
England’s first innings on day one lasted fewer than 55 overs, Australia’s wrapping up on the second at nearly twice as long, and yet midway through this Fifth Test, such has been the contrast in scoring rates, there is barely a cigarette paper’s width between them.
For much of the day, England were outstanding with ball and in the field, the tourists reduced to 185 for seven and looking set to rue a conservative morning session, when Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja got bogged down and made little attempt to wriggle free.
But into the evening, showing greater intent, Australia rallied, Steve Smith narrowly avoiding the infamy of a sub-fielder’s run-out midway through his 71, then Todd Murphy and Pat Cummins enjoying themselves as the final three wickets brought 110 runs and a first-innings lead of 12.
England’s entire knock had included just three maidens, while Australia began this chalk and cheese morning with four in a row, the first runs off the bat not arriving until the day’s 27th delivery.
The ratio improved only modestly across the course of what was, by some distance, the least adventurous hour-and-a-half of batting displayed by either side during the series, the logic - that an England attack missing it’s injured spinner Moeen Ali could be ground down - sound, but always in danger of backfiring. Sure enough, when Labuschagne departed, he had batted for two hours, faced 82 balls and not yet reached double figures.
In fairness, he could not have accounted for a moment of physics-defying brilliance from Joe Root, who flung to his left from first slip and somehow rewound time in mid-air, claiming a one-handed catch that ought to have flown past him at least five seconds earlier as Mark Wood’s delivery found the edge. Root’s 182nd Test catch took him into the top five of all-time. He cannot have taken one better.
The afternoon session was destined to decide whether Australia’s novel approach to moving the scoreboard (i.e. not) would pay dividends, a more expansive middle-order theoretically primed to cash-in against a wearied attack. Not quite.
Stuart Broad returned from lunch to deliver the kind of spell in which the bowler’s fatigue becomes about as relevant to a batter’s survival hopes as the colour of his socks, striking in successive overs to dismiss first Khawaja and then Travis Head.
James Anderson chipped in with the crowd-pleasing wicket of Mitchell Marsh, a bit of fortune at last coming the veteran’s way as the all-rounder chopped on, the sun peeking through the south London clouds and all again right with the world. Root’s evolution into a three-facet all-rounder goes on, Alex Carey stumbling into the most signposted of traps and unwisely picking out Ben Stokes at cover.
Hopes of parity, then, rested with Smith and England’s first real chance of removing him lay in the unlikely hands of substitute fielder George Ealham, son and grandson of former cricketers Mark and Alan. Charging in from the fence, the 21-year-old did all he could to join the Gary Pratt Club, an arrow throw to the stumps leaving Smith straining every sinew for his ground.
Jonny Bairstow did the rest, but was he quick or cute enough? You would sooner have been sat in the cockpit of an aeroplane with no wings than in the third umpire’s chair as the frame-by-frame replays revealed a picture clear as mud. Eventually, Smith, halfway off the field at one stage, was reprieved and from 88 runs behind at the time, helped halve the deficit before he fell, well-caught by Bairstow off a skied top-edge.
Australia’s tail has made little impact since Wood’s introduction to the series at Headingley and England must have felt the hard work was complete. Instead, Murphy soon had them wishing for the halcyon days of Khawaja’s morning leaves as he helped himself to a buffet of short-ball sixes over the leg-side, before tickling fine to level the scores.
From there, though, the final two wickets fell in timely fashion, for Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, in particular, who were spared having to strap their pads on. Woakes’ third wicket ended Murphy’s cameo, before Stokes’s casual boundary juggle took care of counterpart Cummins to bring the show to a close with the teams nigh-on level terms.
