England v Australia: Ashes fifth Test, day two – as it happened

29 Jul 2023

The Guardian

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More reaction and analysis

That’s all for today. I’ll leave you with Ali Martin’s report from the Kia Oval. Thanks for your company and emails, and especially your donations – night.

England vs Australia - Figure 1 — Photo The Guardian

A bit more from Jimmy

The batters deserve all the plaudits. It’s been amazing to watch. On that wicket yesterday we could have tried to graft our way to 160, and we’d get bowled out, so the way we counter-attacked was brilliant.

[Would you like a bit more rest between innings?] You’ve just got to bite the bullet with that. We all love the way we’re playing.

Yes we’d love a whole day off with our feet up, but the way we look after ourselves, we’re in a good enough place to [bowl again after 50 overs’ rest].

[On Old Trafford] We’ve had many games where the rain has saved us so you can’t have it both ways. It’s the nature of cricket. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.

The pitch got slower today, especially when the ball gets softer, and it felt like you had to really bend your back. Hopefully it’ll be a good pitch to bat on tomorrow. The big miss for us is Mo – the pitch is dry, so he’d be a massive part of the fourth innings if we could get him out there.

More from Steve Smith

I’ve been working on a few things in the week and I feel like I got in good positions today I’d been moving a little bit too far across. I love batting at the Oval, it’s a lovely place to play and you get value for your shots. Unfortunately I couldn’t capitalise today.

(Says the man who got the second highest score of the match.)

Steve Smith speaks to Sky Sports

There’s a bit of swing around with the overheads but the wicket itself played quite nicely. A lot of us got in but weren’t able to go on.

[On his dismissal] I thought it was time to start a counter-punch. It didn’t come off and maybe I hit trigger too early with the way Cummo was batting. Overall we’re a bit disappointed we didn’t get bigger lead.

There was no set plan. They bowled really well this morning – they didn’t give us any freebies – so credit where it’s due. We knew if we could take them deep we’d get opportunities to score at the back end of the day, which we did. If the batters were in [in the last hour or two] it would have made a huge difference.

They’re very good swing bowlers and they got it going for most of the day. The new ball didn’t do as much. You want to keep the scoreboard ticking but guys are also allowed to bowl well and you have to respect those periods. If we had more wickets in the shed at the end of the day, we could have got more reward.

“YJB’s astringent post-99 interview was definitely a comedy joy,” writes Robert Wilson. “ Well done for recognising it. It’s a fascinating format, the post-play rancorous rant. It’s full of unintended comedy, of course, but it’s generally somehow likeable as well (with the possible exception of KP). I always think the best of them are directly influenced by the master - Bairstow definitely.”

If Jose Mourinho ever wins another major trophy, there won’t be enough popcorn in the world.

Stumps: Australia lead by 12

The change of innings means that is the last action of another seesawing day’s play. Australia were on top at 91-1; then England were in charge at 182-7. But Steve Smith made 71, having survived a Spandex-tight run-out referral on 43, and useful knocks from Pat Cummins (36) and Todd Murphy (34) gave them a slender lead.

England’s four seamers bowled immaculately until fatigue kicked in after tea. The pick was probably Chris Woakes, who finished with three for 61.

England vs Australia - Figure 3 — Photo The Guardian

The England fans applaud the players after they a good day’s work. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

Cummins is out. It’s not even Stokes’ best catch on the ground– remember 2019 – but it’s still a moment of utter brilliance. Cummins slugged Root flat and hard to long on, where the backpedalling Stokes took the catch above his head, just inside the boundary. He threw the ball up before staggering over the boundary, then jumped back into play to collect as it dropped. No celebration, just another bit of everyday superheroism.

WICKET! Australia 295 all out (Cummins c Stokes b Root 36)

A bit of brilliance from Ben Stokes, who takes a solo relay catch at long on. It’ll be checked by the third umpire but it looks fine.

Ben Stokes shows that it’s easy as 1, 2, 3. He catches the ball right on the boundary … Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Stokes throws the ball back into the field as gravity takes him over the boundary … Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Then grabs the ball to dismiss Pat Cummins. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

101st over: Australia 295-9 (Cummins 36, Hazlewood 6) A dipping slower ball from Anderson hoodwinks Cummins, who just gets some bat on it and then smiles warmly down the pitch. If we ever pick a Nice Guys Finish First XI, Pat Cummins will be taking the new ball. The zeal of his performance in this Test has been thoroughly admirable.

Cummins gives Hazlewood three balls to survive at the end of Anderson’s. He does more than that, thumping Anderson through the covers for two. Every little helps, and Australia lead by 12.

The clock has ticked past 620, which means England won’t have to bat tonight. Tomorrow’s an important day. I might even go so far as to say it’ll be a big first session.

101st over: Australia 292-9 (Cummins 35, Hazlewood 4) The new batter Hazlewood slashes Woakes through backward point for four. A good stat on Sky: every completed partnership in this innings has been between 12 and 54. As Nasser Hussain says, unconverted starts have been a theme of Australia’s batting in the last couple of Tests.

WICKET! Australia 288-9 (Murphy LBW b Woakes 34)

Chris Woakes has been the most durable of England’s seamers today, so it’s nice that he gets a late reward. Murphy plays around a good delivery, angled in from round the wicket, and is hit on the pad in front of middle and leg.

He reviews, just in case, but it’s umpire’s call so he’s on his way. Murphy played a fine hand: 34 from 39 balls, including three sixes off Mark Wood.

101st over: Australia 288-8 (Cummins 35, Murphy 34) “Re: Bairstow’s score-settling during press conferences, I would disagree that he actually settled any scores,” says Babor Ahmed. “Rather, all of the points he made in his defence (the injury was really bad, yes I’m still limping, yes I’m rusty because I haven’t played in 10 months) were actually points that reinforced the arguments against his selection.

“‘I’m injured, what do you expect?’ he asked. Well I, and many other supporters, expect England to select players only once they have had enough time to recover form and fitness after injury.”

England vs Australia - Figure 4 — Photo The Guardian

I was talking about it more from his perspective, but I know what you mean. While I essentially agree with everything you say, we don’t know what conversations he had with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, or what was a reasonable expectation of performance given the injury he suffered. It’s not a computer game, you can’t produce data to predict future performance.

Players are picked all the time when they aren’t 100 percent fit; Bairstow is slightly different because of the nature of the injury but it’s not like he and England were able to foresee that he would only score one fifty and drop a number of chances. Don’t get me wrong, I think England may well have won this series with Foakes in the team, but that’s only with the benefit of hindsight.

Last summer Bairstow produced some of the best Test batting we’ve ever seen from an England player. I was uncomfortable with him playing as keeper, more because of the potential impact on his batting (before the injury he was a very reliable keeper against pace bowling), but it’s the hardest selection decision I can recall since I started following England in 1988. We can’t ignore the human element of the decision either; you might not agree with it, but to a post-epiphany Stokes considers, that’s an important consideration. You could argue he’s loyal to a fault. You could also argue that – at the time, not with hindsight – it was an extremely nuanced decision.

100th over: Australia 288-8 (Cummins 35, Murphy 32) Murphy hooks Woakes to fine leg, where Lawrence does brilliantly to save the boundary. The ball kicked up and almost sent his teeth rattling, but he got his face out of the way while simultaneously palming the ball away from the boundary.

A snick from Murphy falls short of Crawley in the slips and runs away for a couple of runs. Woakes, England’s best bowler today for mine, keeps coming and zips another good delivery past the outside edge.

“Half of Australia’s batters have faced more than 50 balls in this innings,” says Jonathan McKinley. “Only Harry Brook faced more than 50 in the England innings. Does this extra batting practice help the Australians going into the second half of the match?”

I don’t know about that, but the extra rest certianly helps their bowlers. That’s one of the big downsides of Bazball, but England will argue – rightly – that the positives comfortably outweigh the negatives.

99th over: Australia 284-8 (Cummins 34, Murphy 30) Cummins edges Anderson just short of Crawley, plunging to his left in a kind of fourth-slip position.

A single brings Murphy on strike, and he flicks a loose delivery to the fine leg boundary to bring the scores level. That’s a cracking comeback from 186 for seven at tea, and another single takes Australia into the lead. Just as bowlers can take wickets for the bloke at the other end, so Usman Khawaja (47 from 157 balls) and Marnus Labuschagne (9 from 82 balls) are responsible for a few of these runs.

98th over: Australia 278-8 (Cummins 34, Murphy 25) Around half an hour to go, and England will be very happy to get off the field. This is a chance for Australia to build a small but potentially decisive first-innings lead.

England vs Australia - Figure 5 — Photo The Guardian

“YJB seems to treat every dismissal as a chance to give the crowd a stare,” writes Dechlan Brennan, “as if he is being attacked from all sides for something other than keeping errors (I’ll be told off in his next press conference for this).”

I have sympathy with Bairstow, mainly because I know I couldn’t handle a thousandth of the criticism – both fair and excessive – that he has received this summer. It’s a really complicated subject though; there was a very good discussion about how much we should criticise sportspeople on A Slight Tangent (the Off the Ball podcast) after the recent Dele Alli interview.

Also, and I know this is extremely childish, few things tickle me as much as a cranky sportsman turning what should be a celebratory interview into an uncompromising score-settler.

97th over: Australia 277-8 (Cummins 33, Murphy 25) This isn’t a sentence I expected to be typing today, or indeed ever, but Todd Murphy has hit Mark Wood out of the attack. James Anderson replaces him.

Cummins, who is playing his third longish innings of the series after 38 and 44* at Edgbaston, inside-edges into the ground and over the stumps. For all his struggles, Anderson has had rotten luck in this series. A few singles reduce the deficit to six.

“Thanks for highlighting an animal rescue,” writes Tom Mayfield. “All rescues are going through hard times now, so it is helpful to have sponsors and supporters with a bit of clout. If there is time and space could you mention the White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue, here in Virginia. That might be opening a can of worms though! Anyway, visitors can see the cricket bat with which I made my highest ever score of 28not out, and saved the match. Village cricket rocks.”

Doesn’t it just. While I remember, thank you so much to everyone who donated to our local animal shelter at tea.

96th over: Australia 274-8 (Cummins 31, Murphy 24) Australia were criticised for their cautious approach this morning, legitimately so, but they are benefitting from it now because England’s four seamers are shattered. Woakes tries a couple of slower balls without success, though at least he stems the flow of runs.

“I’m not much of a stats person but it does seem that the tailenders have had more of an impact on this series that is usual,” says Josh Hardie. “When the sixth wicket is down im now thinking limit it to 100 more or - if time is tight - bash a quick 50. Is that wrong?”

I haven’t checked the data [you’re sacked – ed] but it hasn’t felt particularly unusual. Lower-order batters – never call them the tail, as Duncan Fletcher would say – have been influencing Ashes series for as long as I can remember. For example, the second Ashes Test I ever watched included this Geoff Lawson horror show, which unfolded via increasingly agitated window-shopping sessions at Radio Rentals.

95th over: Australia 273-8 (Cummins 30, Murphy 24) Six more to Murphy, swivel-pulled smoothly round the corner off Wood. There are two men out but he doesn’t care. I must say, I like everything I’ve seen of this kid, especially his calm competitiveness. This is only his 14th first-class game.

England vs Australia - Figure 6 — Photo The Guardian

And that’s his third six! Another swivel-pull, straight into the crowd. Murphy is doing unto Wood as Wood did unto Starc and Cummins at Headingley. He has 24 from 23 balls; Australia – who were 186 for seven at tea – trail by 10.

94th over: Australia 250-8 (Cummins 30, Murphy 12) Cummins tries to blast Woakes onto the nearest air traffic control map and gets a leading edge over the slips for four. I think that was a slower ball.

Murphy gets a more authentic boundary later in the boundary, slamming a wide ball past backward point. This is the right approach from Australia against a weary attack; they trail by just 23.

93rd over: Australia 250-8 (Cummins 25, Murphy 7) That’s more like it. Murphy gets off the mark by swivel-pulling Wood for six, a shot of such quality that the commentator Mike Atherton mistakes him for Mitchell Starc.

Murphy isn’t the worst tailender, and has a highest score of 41 in his fledgling Test career. England got Smith at a good time because their bowlers look really tired.

92nd over: Australia 241-8 (Cummins 24, Murphy 0) There’s a case for Australia to declare here, or at least to start slogging so that their bowlers get a bit of time at England tonight. Murphy does have one windy woof at Woakes, but the clue’s in the word ‘windy’: the ball zips through to Jonny Bairstow.

“Isn’t cricket brilliant?” says Felix Wood. “I’m loving the contrasting tactics in this game, it’ll be fascinating to see whether England deal with an injured spinner as well as Australia did. Smith seems to have got the good side of the two only really controversial decisions this series, but frankly you can’t feel too hard done by if you make such a basic error. Would Foakes have done that? I think we all know the answer.”

We’re going there again are we.

91st over: Australia 240-8 (Cummins 23, Murphy 0) Todd Murphy, meet Mark Wood. There’s an appeal for a catch down the leg side – only Brook at short leg – and then a short ball whooshes past his noggin. He survives.

90th over: Australia 239-8 (Cummins 22) The Sky Sports chaps show that a field change may have led to that wicket. Harry Brook was brought up to square leg, and that’s where Smith was aiming when he sliced the ball over his head.

That was the last ball of the over. Australia trail by 44, and it looks like the series will end as it began: with a one-innings shootout.

“This has all the makings of one of those Australian lower order partnerships,” says James Male. “Truly their ability to destroy souls is unparalleled. Thankfully I’m off to see Oppenheimer rather than endure this.”

I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.

WICKET! Australia 239-8 (Smith c Bairstow b Woakes 71)

Steve Smith falls to a fine catch from Jonny Bairstow. He started to get a bit frisky in that Woakes over, clunking one ball over mid-off before launching another miles in the air. Bairstow ran a long way back, almost to third man, and steadied himself to take the catch. It was a slightly odd shot from Smith, who had serenely stockpiled runs for most of the day, but, well, nobody’s perfect.

England vs Australia - Figure 7 — Photo The Guardian

Whisper it quietly but Steve Smith has given his wicket away. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

89th over: Australia 235-7 (Smith 68, Cummins 21) On Sky Sports, Ian Ward has demonstrated that Steve Smith should probably have been given run out in the 78th over – although, as he says, “it took about 50 minutes, with the help of about 12 other people including two former international captains”. I suppose England are still in the red after the 2019 World Cup final.

Mark Wood does comes into the attack, though his first over is a bit stiff, with everything below 90mph. Smith pulls Broad for a single to bring up a determined fifty partnership from 94 balls.

88th over: Australia 232-7 (Smith 65, Cummins 21) Woakes replaces Anderson, who bowled a harmless spell of 3-1-9-0. Cummins reaches for a very wide full toss and inside-edges it for four more. Weird cricket all round.

In the last two Tests, when everything started to get on top of him, Cummins scored two runs in three innings. But he bowled magnificently yesterday, and this batting performance – the odd bit of luck notwithstanding – has also been more Edgbaston than Old Trafford. Nobody on either side has looked more focussed in this game.

“I’ve lived in Japan for 23 years now, married to my Japanese wife for almost 18,” says Mark Steward. “She’s been aware a certain Jimmy Anderson plays cricket, but by her own admission has no idea what he looks like or what he does. But when I mentioned to her that this might be Jimmy’s last game for England, she looked genuinely aghast. A household name in even the most irreverent of households.”

87th over: Australia 228-7 (Smith 65, Cummins 17) Another quiet over from Broad. These England bowlers are generally very patient but you can see a few little signs of frustration. Australia have added 33 since Smith survived that run-out chance; they trail by 55.

86th over: Australia 225-7 (Smith 64, Cummins 15) The new ball is swinging generously enough, but both batters look comfortable and Stokes may need to turn to Wood before this partnership gets out of hand.

“Smith’s hand-eye coordination is as impressive as ever, but I’m not sure his footwork and, in consequence, his balance has been as precise as in previous tours,” writes Gary Naylor. “It’s shown in his frustration in not being able to score singles at will, one of his biggest strengths. Of course, Steven Smith at 90 per cent is probably the best batter on either side, but it’s a waning of a once fierce flame.”

85th over: Australia 223-7 (Smith 63, Cummins 14) A superb short ball from Broad follows Cummins, who tries to limbo dance to safety. As he does so the ball hits the top edge and flies over Bairstow for four. This partnership is now worth 38, and we could be heading for another one-innings shootout. England should beware the precedent of Brisbane 2017, when they were on top until Smith and Cummins came together.

“Personally I think loyalty and empathy are overrated, Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Give me 1989 any time. I mean that year’s Ashes selection omnishambles, not the Taylor Swift album. As an aside, it’s not exactly rocket science but there’s now been a longer gap between 2005 and this year than there was between 1989 and 2005, which messes with my head a little bit.”

England vs Australia - Figure 8 — Photo The Guardian

If Taylor Swift ever re-records 1989, one of her promo interviews should begin with an invitation to name the 29 players England picked in the Ashes that year.

Australia in 1989. Probably Taylor Swift’s greatest tour. Photograph: Adrian Murrell/Getty Images

84th over: Australia 218-7 (Smith 62, Cummins 10) Smith tries to drive Anderson and is beaten on the inside. That was a bit strange because the ball didn’t seem to do much. The next ball is too short and pulled imperiously for four. Smith’s hand-eye co-ordination is something else, and he flogs three more through the covers off the penultimate ball.

Australia would have been 194-8 had Smith been run out; instead, things are getting interesting.

83rd over: Australia 211-7 (Smith 55, Cummins 10) That non-wicket aside, England have been a bit flat since that Smith reprieve, and Australia have quietly reduced the deficit to 72.

“As this is the last Test for a while, care to make a few predictions for the next squad travelling to India?” says John Starbuck. “Allowing for what goes on in the intervening franchise actions, a majority of the current team can expect to be aboard, but who loses out?”

Of this XI, I suspect the only absentees – fitness permitting – will be Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes. Would need to think about it but you’d imagine Ben Foakes, Will Jacks, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Dan Lawrence and Rehan Ahmed will all be in the squad, plus one or two more. They would love to have Olly Stone and/or Jofra Archer. There will be a lot to think about, especially if Indian continue their recent policy of preparing result pitches. If that’s the case we might see some extremely funky selections from England.

Cummins is not out!

My word, it swung so much that it would have missed leg stump. It was a lovely delivery from Broad, a huge inswinger that beat Cummins all ends up and hit both pads. Cummins’ review seemed like an afterthought, but replays showed it was going down.

You can’t always get what you want, eh Mick? Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Australia review: Cummins LBW b Broad It took Joel Wilson an age to give it, but it looks out.

82nd over: Australia 210-7 (Smith 54, Cummins 10) Anderson shares the new ball. Cummins defends with authority, as he has all series against anyone other than Mark Wood, and it’s a maiden.

81st over: Australia 210-7 (Smith 54, Cummins 10) Stuart Broad takes the new ball. Smith leathers an inswinger through mid-on for four to reach a sedate 50 from 98 balls. It’s only his second fifty-plus score of a peculiar series.

He on-drives the next ball for four as well, though this shot doesn’t have quite the same flourish. The sliding Anderson seemed to save the boundary but replays showed he had scooped the ball against his trailing arm as he made contact with the sponge.

“Are we perhaps a bit premature with, ‘Personally I would have preferred England to lose this series 3-2 than draw 2-2’,” says Andrew Baker. “This could still be lost 3-1 or 2-1. It seems anything could happen in what has been the most engaging series I’ve seen in a long time.”

Oh I didn’t mean to suggest England have won this game. All I was clumsily trying to say was that a series decider, even if it ended in defeat, was preferable to a draw at Old Trafford and a win here.

80th over: Australia 201-7 (Smith 46, Cummins 9) Joe Root bowls the last over before the second new ball, though most of it spent looking at replays of the run-out that wasn’t. Smith was two-thirds of the way off the field when he looked again at the big screen and realised Bairstow had made contact with the stumps.

79th over: Australia 201-7 (Smith 46, Cummins 9) On Sky, Ricky Ponting thinks Smith should have been given out. At least I think that’s what Mark Butcher has just said on his behalf. You’ll hear more about it I’m sure, especially if Smith gets 200.

One part of the off bail was out of the groove when Bairstow disturbed the stumps before collecting the throw, so the deciding factor was whether the other side was removed with ball in hand before Smith made his ground. The third umpire Nitin Meton decided not. That looks a fair decision for me, albeit borderline, but I’m not entirely sure I know what I’m talking about.

78th over: Australia 198-7 (Smith 45, Cummins 8) Well that was a bit of an anticlimax.

Urgh, it looks like an error from Jonny Bairstow, who accidentally knocked the stumps as he shaped to collect Ealham’s throw. The third umpire decided the bail was out of the groove before Bairstow broke the stumps with the ball in his hand. It was a really tight decision, which could have gone either way.

Steve Smith survives an extremely tight run-out referral. Photograph: Sky Sports