Australia
chiselled out four key England wickets to take control of the fifth and
final Ashes test on an absorbing third day at the Oval on Friday.
The
hosts, replying to Australia's 492 for nine declared, lost Alastair
Cook for 25, Joe Root (68), Jonathan Trott (40) and Kevin Pietersen (50)
on the way to 247 for four.
Although rain is
forecast for Saturday, Australia are in a strong position to claim a
consolation victory and English hopes of winning a home Ashes series 4-0
for the first time look to be over.
Ian
Bell was unbeaten on 29 and Chris Woakes on 15 at the close with
England still trailing the touring side by 245 runs and needing another
46 to avoid the follow-on.
Cook and Root,
resuming on 32 for no wicket, batted cautiously through the first hour
under clear blue skies against tidy but largely unthreatening fast
bowling.
Root produced two neat wristy flicks to the mid-wicket boundary and
Cook drove Ryan Harris square for four but runs were generally hard to
come by.
The pair had taken their opening
partnership to 68, England's best of the series, when Cook nibbled at a
wide ball from Harris just after the drinks break and wicketkeeper Brad
Haddin took a diving catch.
The England captain
swished his bat in frustration as his disappointing series continued
and his dismissal sent Root into his shell.
The
22-year-old failed to score a run off 19 balls in a row but he pulled
Peter Siddle for a single just before lunch to reach his half-century,
made from 145 deliveries and including eight fours.
It
was a welcome return to form for Root, who has struggled with the bat
since making 180 in the second test at Lord's, and England took lunch on
97 for one.
Root
hit two fours in James Faulkner's first over of the day but with a
century firmly in his sights he swept at a full-length ball from
off-spinner Nathan Lyon and top-edged a simple catch to Shane Watson at
short fine-leg.
Pietersen got off the mark by
driving Mitchell Starc for four through mid-off but the normally dynamic
right-hander also struggled to find his touch.
Trott's
first boundary came off the 78th delivery he faced and Pietersen's
frustration was evident when, on 11, he attempted a suicidal quick
single and was well short of safety when David Warner's throw narrowly
missed the stumps.
Lyon, bowling round the
wicket to imaginative field settings, extracted some turn which troubled
both batsmen but they picked off easy singles to keep the scoreboard
ticking over.
Australia took the second new
ball just before tea and Starc trapped Trott lbw with his first
delivery, the batsman failing to get the decision overturned on review.
Pietersen
and Bell continued to play risk-free cricket in murky conditions and
the former flicked Faulkner to the fine-leg boundary for his fourth four
to reach his fifty.
But he fell with the total
on 217, tempted by a wide full-length delivery from Starc and edging a
straightforward catch to Watson at first slip.
Woakes
drove his first ball in test cricket sweetly through the covers for
four and he looked assured at the crease on his debut.
Bell
continued the sublime form which has brought him three centuries in the
series, unleashing a couple of trademark drives through the covers in
fading light before shutting up shop again in the closing overs of the
day.
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