Ashes 2015: England face innings defeat by Australia at The Oval

Fifth Ashes Test, Kia Oval, day three:

Australia 481: Smith 143, Warner 85, Voges 76, Starc 58, Finn 3-90

England 149 & 203-6 (following on): Cook 85, Buttler 33*, Lyon 2-48

Australia lead by 129 runs

England are on course for a heavy defeat by Australia in the fifth Ashes Test after Alastair Cook's late dismissal all but extinguished their faint hopes of saving the game. 

The captain was caught at short leg off Steve Smith's part-time leg-spin for a gutsy 85 in the penultimate over of the third day to leave his side perilously poised on 203-6, still 129 runs behind Australia after their skipper Michael Clarke enforced the follow-on.

Under-pressure England opener Adam Lyth, Ian Bell, Joe Root and Ben Stokes made just 34 runs between them, while Jonny Bairstow contributed 26 and Jos Buttler dug deep to reach 33 not out at the close on a scorching summer's day at The Oval.

England's ninth-wicket pair had earlier added 47 as they were bowled out for 149 in reply to Australia's 481.

And despite Cook's valiant efforts, the damage done by England's desperate collapse on Friday afternoon appears certain to have condemned them to defeat.

The hosts had already regained The Ashes after their victories at Cardiff, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge gave them an unassailable 3-1 series lead.

Adam Lyth's scores in this series have been 6, 37, 0, 7, 10, 12, 14, 19 and 10

 

 

Lyth fails again

Clarke's decision to ask a team to follow on for the first time in his captaincy career provided Lyth with an opportunity to salvage his series - but once again the Yorkshire left-hander was not up to the task.

He had made 10 runs when he poked at a ball shaping away from Peter Siddle and was caught by Clarke at slip.

Lyth's latest failure leaves England no closer to finding a long-term replacement to Andrew Strauss as Cook's opening partner.

Nick Compton, Joe Root, Michael Carberry, Sam Robson and Jonathan Trott have also auditioned for the role, without ever doing enough to make it their own.

Bell & Root fail before Bairstow's bizarre dismissal

Despite his pedigree, Bell is another player facing an anxious wait to see if he is included in England's party for the series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.

He looked desperately out of sorts and was dropped on three at second slip by Clarke as he scraped together 13 runs. But when a lifter from Mitchell Marsh glanced off Bell's glove, this time Clarke made no mistake.

Root fell trying to take on Mitchell Johnson in the first over, as he top-edged a hook shot to Mitchell Starc at long leg.

Bairstow and Ben Stokes then succumbed in the same Nathan Lyon over after tea, although Bairstow should not have been given out by the letter of the law.

Adam Voges took a juggling catch at short leg, but the ball made contact with the grille of his helmet in the process, which should technically have nullified the dismissal.

Law 32.3 (d)
"It is not a fair catch if at any time after having been struck by the bat and before a catch is completed the ball has touched a protective helmet worn by a fielder."
Bairstow was given out in a similar manner against India in Mumbai in 2012 caught at silly point off Gautam Gambhir's helmet grille

 

 

But Cook digs in…

With wickets tumbling at the other end, Cook remained serene as he moved towards what would have been his first Ashes hundred in England.

He eschewed risk, scoring heavily on the off side and raising some hope of England surviving through to Sunday afternoon's predicted downpour.

But Clarke's decision to deploy Smith's occasional leg-spinners proved a masterstroke.

His second ball - a full toss - was dismissively sent to the boundary by Buttler, but the last ball of the over gripped and turned enough to catch the splice of Cook's bat and fall into the grateful hands of Voges.

As the Australians celebrated wildly, Cook was a picture of disappointment as he loped back to the pavilion knowing that the game had gone.

 

Johnson's double strike

Cook's dismissal brought Mark Wood to the crease for the second time in the day, the Durham fast bowler having earlier combined with Moeen Ali to help England add 42 runs to their overnight 107-8.

Both fell in successive deliveries from Johnson, Wood becoming the fourth England batsman to perish on the pull shot as he looped a catch to mid-wicket and Moeen nicking to Peter Nevill.

Shaw Post believes that the England Cricket Team will be unhappy with how they've played in the Fifth Test as their batting collapse in their first innings could prove costly unless they manage to still be batting tomorrow at 2pm. Hopefully Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad can all score at least fifties runs so we have a lead before the expected downpour which is due to hit the Oval at around 2pm tomorrow and completely wash out the rest of Day Four and Day Five.

It looks very likely that England will have to find a new Test Opener to partner Alastair Cook during the Tours of Pakistan and South Africe this winter as Lyth has failed again. The most likely options are Alex Hales, Nick Compton or Gary Ballance.

The Australian Cricket Team will feel  very bad that they couldn't have played like this through out the whole series as it could have been them who would have won the Ashes rather than England if they showed more patience and bottle during the 1st Test, 3rd Test and 4th Test