England's Summer of Cricket 2023, Featuring The Ashes

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50 up for Mo at an absolutely vital moment.   

A fortuitous way to get there with Cummins not picking it up. It frankly looked like he wasn't moving well chasing back for it either.

Starc back on which I think slows how key a period the Aussies know this is. He's looked their best bowler today.

Just getting a reminder of how good a batting wicket it is. Five overs, 16/0, not an awful lot there.

May have heard on the Sky comms that Daniel actually finished with a dot, so Broad perhaps is the first to end on a six?

Duty281 wrote:Just getting a reminder of how good a batting wicket it is. Five overs, 16/0, not an awful lot there.

May have heard on the Sky comms that Daniel actually finished with a dot, so Broad perhaps is the first to end on a six?

His last delivery bowling to Terry Alderman was a dot.

Nothing notable from this first eight overs for the bowlers. No movement ; and the batsmen have been in behind everything without any trouble so far. England have hardly taken any really early wickets all series so nothing new here.

Lot of runs to play with ; but they'd have been hoping to grab an early one this morning. I don't think taking ten wickets is going to be that easy...going to have to work.

Moeen! On early. Been a very assured start from Australia, just one ball from Jimmy beating the bat so far.

Early appearance from Moeen ! Not sure how he's going to handle bowling , but I guess they want to find out as soon as possible whether he can play a useful part.

That was a shocker of an over.

Poor keeping by Bairstow fumbling a delivery from Woakes commented upon by Atherton. He needlessly conceded a bye in Broad's opening over which Butcher on comms didn't mention. Just doesn't inspire confidence.

Bit of spin there for Moeen. Depends how often he can land them in the right place. He's going to leak runs anyway so important he threatens the wickets...

Good first mini-session for Australia

Moeen got one to bite and it sailed for four byes. Encouraging signs though. I hope they don't ignore Root's bowling in this innings just because Moeen is able to bowl. Root's got 6 wickets @ 22 this series, whereas Moeen's 6 have been @ 67.

49/0 at drinks. Perfect start for Australia. Wood soon? Wonder if Stokes will be able to bowl, knowing this might be his last cricket for six months?

Broad back on. Still no real menace from the pace men ...no pace left in the strip at all.

Reckon a couple of balls from Moeen have seemed the most likely to cause damage : two that spun , and a rank bad ball that nearly drew a rush of blood...

56/0 in 15. Bit fast for a Tortoise ?

Don't think they'll ignore Root's bowling. Might see a fair bit of spin today , as it doesn't seem the pace bowlers are going to get much help from the track.

The Australian batsmen are playing much more positively than on Friday. I think they reckon this chase is quite achievable on this pitch. Which is a much better mental state than tiring to defend for a draw . Will be interesting to see what happens when a wicket falls...

Mo giving the ball plenty of air and trying to really buy a wicket. He has actually looked the likeliest to get a wicket so far. What's the deal with Wood?

Australia should certainly go for the target and I've always expected them to. Like I said yesterday, there's been a big upturn in successful chases of 300+ in the last ten years, as teams always believe it's possible nowadays (something that predates Bazball). And these wickets have been batting friendly all series.

61/0. Might be some rain around as early as 13:00. Further play today will become difficult if/when it hits with more rain forecast for later on.

Root on, which I don't mind at all, but still no Mark Wood today which is a concern.

Root bowling to two lefties is a good matchup though even if both play spin well.

Root's bowling average 30.5 against the left-handers. Didn't realise it was that good.

Duty281 wrote:Root's bowling average 30.5 against the left-handers. Didn't realise it was that good.

Yep, as said before he's been used really smartly by England. They wait for lefties and when it's ragging as he can be dangerous. But they don't then over bowl him in hope at the wrong times very often.

Still no Wood. Still no wickets.

Root now paired with Jimmy. Playing the patient game. Really want to get a break soon as these two are looking just too comfortable.

is wood injured?

It looks very flat and slow for the seamers though. Broad got a couple to misbehave a bit with cutters but it's so slow that Khawaja was still comfortable.

compelling and rich wrote:is wood injured?

I think he's on the field, but I'm starting to be a little concerned about his absence from the attack.

Good morning for Australia. England just have to stay patient

Holding Wood back for the reverse sweet spot ? And maybe generally planning to use him in short bursts , to new batsmen.

Got to get a wicket first ! This has been a perfect session for Australia. They'll be quietly confident they can chase this down after a start like this... England might be rather concerned that they've not really looked like taking a wicket.

Lunch at 75/0.

Duty281 wrote:Well the clouds have suddenly rolled in.

Worth noting with regards to fourth innings scores at the Oval - 400+ has been scored twice, in 1979 and 1947, in drawing efforts. England also managed 369 in a draw with India in 2007, and Australia were bowled out here for 348 in 2009 attempting a very high chase (they were doing alright until Punter got run out!).

A point I forgot to mention earlier. The Oval now has a smaller outfield than in all those years mentioned above by Duty.

Anyway, a responsible and impressive start by Warner and Khawaja. Whether the likes of Head and Carey (assuming required) can do likewise, I'm unconvinced ....

It's that old chestnut. If someone offered Australia 300 a 300-run target, with 10 wickets in hand, starting with a 24-over-old ball, I think Australia would think they're in a decent position. I think Australia are probably marginally in the ascendancy, but England overall favourites, taking into account how difficult chases of 350+ traditionally have been.

Almost right on cue the rain starts to fall. 75/0. Perfect session for the Aussies, and England will be starting to feel the first touch of concern. Generally, though, in these sort of chases the old adage of 'one brings two' sustains the fielding side. But it looks like being hard graft to get 10 wickets, especially with no frontline spinner on a turning pitch.

The forecast looks to have cleared up tomorrow, so it should be a 98 over day on Monday (if needed!), which means that even if there's no more play today a positive result should be reached.

Got quite a bit more rain on the radar today. Some at 14:30, then the bigger burst at around 16:00/16:30 which will likely end things for the day when it hits.

Aus session.
But still far from really worried phase for Eng.

Aus did that what they needed to. Got rid of 10th wicket quickly....got a foundation of. a 50+opening stand.....75 and going...and did not dig a hole of strokelessness
Now
Warner needs to convert this to a 70 or 80 odd and Aus need to go through the.next session not losing more than a wickets......and then it's game even
Pitch is docile, Eng bowling looks flat and deflated....Wood magic or Rain spiced conditions is what Eng would be hoping for.

Duty281 wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:is wood injured?

I think he's on the field, but I'm starting to be a little concerned about his absence from the attack.

Thought they might be waiting for it to start to reverse a bit to bring him on

Duty281 wrote:Almost right on cue the rain starts to fall. 75/0. Perfect session for the Aussies, and England will be starting to feel the first touch of concern. Generally, though, in these sort of chases the old adage of 'one brings two' sustains the fielding side. But it looks like being hard graft to get 10 wickets, especially with no frontline spinner on a turning pitch.

The forecast looks to have cleared up tomorrow, so it should be a 98 over day on Monday (if needed!), which means that even if there's no more play today a positive result should be reached.

Got quite a bit more rain on the radar today. Some at 14:30, then the bigger burst at around 16:00/16:30 which will likely end things for the day when it hits.

So what are we saying ? Rain saves England

Unfortunately they have to win ...

Long way to go , of course. I did feel England probably left thirty or so runs out there yesterday : seemed to lose a bit of focus after Root got out. And suspect they were very confident 380 would be plenty. May not be quite so confident now ; though as you say , one often brings two , etc. These large chases tend to founder later on : in truth I wasn't expecting to run through them this morning ; but I was certainly hoping to get one or two in the first 20 odd overs.

Not going to be a relaxing stroll to victory , is it ?

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Almost right on cue the rain starts to fall. 75/0. Perfect session for the Aussies, and England will be starting to feel the first touch of concern. Generally, though, in these sort of chases the old adage of 'one brings two' sustains the fielding side. But it looks like being hard graft to get 10 wickets, especially with no frontline spinner on a turning pitch.

The forecast looks to have cleared up tomorrow, so it should be a 98 over day on Monday (if needed!), which means that even if there's no more play today a positive result should be reached.

Got quite a bit more rain on the radar today. Some at 14:30, then the bigger burst at around 16:00/16:30 which will likely end things for the day when it hits.

So what are we saying ? Rain saves England

Unfortunately they have to win ...

Long way to go , of course. I did feel England probably left thirty or so runs out there yesterday : seemed to lose a bit of focus after Root got out. And suspect they were very confident 380 would be plenty. May not be quite so confident now ; though as you say , one often brings two , etc. These large chases tend to founder later on : in truth I wasn't expecting to run through them this morning ; but I was certainly hoping to get one or two in the first 20 odd overs.

Not going to be a relaxing stroll to victory , is it ?

Never is. All set for Broad to take the last wicket with Australia needing two to win and Warner on strike at 199*...

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Almost right on cue the rain starts to fall. 75/0. Perfect session for the Aussies, and England will be starting to feel the first touch of concern. Generally, though, in these sort of chases the old adage of 'one brings two' sustains the fielding side. But it looks like being hard graft to get 10 wickets, especially with no frontline spinner on a turning pitch.

The forecast looks to have cleared up tomorrow, so it should be a 98 over day on Monday (if needed!), which means that even if there's no more play today a positive result should be reached.

Got quite a bit more rain on the radar today. Some at 14:30, then the bigger burst at around 16:00/16:30 which will likely end things for the day when it hits.

So what are we saying ? Rain saves England

Unfortunately they have to win ...

Long way to go , of course. I did feel England probably left thirty or so runs out there yesterday : seemed to lose a bit of focus after Root got out. And suspect they were very confident 380 would be plenty. May not be quite so confident now ; though as you say , one often brings two , etc. These large chases tend to founder later on : in truth I wasn't expecting to run through them this morning ; but I was certainly hoping to get one or two in the first 20 odd overs.

Not going to be a relaxing stroll to victory , is it ?

Never is. All set for Broad to take the last wicket with Australia needing two to win and Warner on strike at 199*...

Except that won't happen. It'll be Joe from one end and Mo in a wheelchair from the other... due to bad light.

Looks like play will start on time this afternoon, but the rain is coming soon. And once the rain hits I think that'll be it for the day.

England need to take advantage of these gloomy conditions.

Wood's on and off, Mo not a hundred percent. Anderson quite pedestrian. Broad and Woakes not able to extract much of the pitch. Warner and Khawaja building a solid platform. Things not looking great for England at the moment.
But its that time when Warner should be throwing another start. Marnus and Smith have had very mixed results in the series. The rest of the lineup, despite the presence of Mitchell Bradman, isn't that solid. And of course, the target of 384, is a very long way away...

Good chess battle going on. England tying Australia down, trying to provoke a rash shot. But the two openers not yet obliging. Target under 300 now.

Has a subcontinent feel to this test. Seam at one end, spin at t'other, on a docile wicket.

If not Wood, what is Woakes doing out there? Think Root's have had a longish bowl under the circumstances. Since Wood's not off the field, they should be expecting him to bowl?

Warner with the shot of the Ashes.

Very attritional at the moment. England trying to dry up the runs and prey on a mistake. But no joy yet ...and Warner starting to look distinctly dangerous.

I am comforted by the thought that one brings two etc etc...but beginning to wonder where the "one" is coming from.

That was weird : Anderson a totally wild full toss no ball and four more... 98/0 just the start you want chasing 380.

Wood getting loose...

Anderson not even able to keep a lid on scoring at the moment, and now he has bowled a beamer at Warner who managed to somehow get it away for 4.

Wood on, at last!

finally!!

couldnt understand not bowling your most dangerous bowler at all while giving part timers a go. not even had a go with the new ball. slow flat pitch the extra pace could have been the difference with the harder ball

Was never going to be easy was it.

Not a lot happening and now near 100 up without losing a wicket. The platform has been laid

100 partnership.

Pretty equal effort from both. Wood on, so the crowd is awake. Finds an edge, but it goes through for four. Fifty for Khawaja. What a series he's had. Arguably Australia's player of the series. Was instrumental in their first two wins, and might play a key role in a third win...

Wilson now unable to differentiate between runs off the bat and byes.

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