Alastair Cook fell agonisingly short of his first home Ashes century as England slipped towards an innings defeat on the third evening at the Kia Oval.
The England captain had come out on top of a fascinating, prolonged duel with Nathan Lyon that lasted almost the enitirety of the afternoon, but as is so oddly often the case, it took a part-timer to upset his concentration.
Steve Smith, Australia’s captain in-waiting, was called upon by Michael Clarke as the shadows loomed across the Oval, and responded with a horrible full toss from his first ball that Jos Buttler, who lent Cook uncharacteristically defensive support, slapped through the covers for four.
Cook, who had compiled 85 runs from 233 painstaking deliveries, pushed forward to the final ball of Smith’s sole over and succeeded only in dabbing an inside edge to Adam Voges at short leg.
The calmness of his innings contrasted with the skittishness of Jonny Bairstow, who fell to Lyon for 26 made mostly with prods through the gully. The dismissal should not have counted, though, after it was belatedly realised that the ball had hit Voges’ helmet in the act of catching.
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More culpable was Stokes, whose senses deserted him for the second time in the match. The all-rounder played his game rather than the situation, pushing with granite hands at a spitting ball from Lyon that Clarke pouched at slip.
England can save face by claiming, with righteousness, that the Ashes have long since been won. But for Buttler especially this was an important innings after a run of dire form with the bat, and the wicketkeeper responded by leaving anything outside off from Mitchells Starc and Johnson, who have exploited that weakness throughout the series.
With rain in prospect for tomorrow, Cook’s vigil and Buttler’s fortitude have given England the slimmest of chances to lift the urn without the deflating feeling of a party ruined.
Cook’s obdurate half-century frustrated Australia on the third afternoon at the Kia Oval, after Ian Bell and then Joe Root had fallen to leave England in trouble.
Bell, still woefully out of form, had moved scratchily to 13 before the excellent Mitchell Marsh surprised him with a sharp, rising delivery that caught high on the bat and dropped gently to Clarke at slip.
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The Australia captain had earlier threatened to spoil his final appearance in the field, when he let a Bell drive off a lovely, full, swinging Marsh delivery through his hands.
Joe Root crunched an imperious cut through point off Johnson, before the overconfidence of perfect form perhaps overtook him, and he hooked the same bowler to Starc on the long-leg boundary.
England were thankful for Cook’s grit, as the captain brought up his 50 off 119 balls following a protracted duel with Lyon, whose probing line to the left-handers has caused problems throughout the Test.
Johnson was then left dumbfounded as Bairstow edged thrice between slip and gully in the same over, all for boundaries, as England ended the session still 209 runs in arrears of Australia’s 481 and staring at the popped balloons of their own party.
Peter Siddle gave a reminder of what could have been by dismissing Adam Lyth in a parsimonious spell after Australia enforced the follow-on in the morning session.
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The seam bowler, who was left out of the side for the first four Tests of the series, took the first wicket of England’s second innings when he had Lyth caught by Clarke at second slip to leave the home team 31 for one at lunch.
If Lyth could feel unlucky to be on the receiving end of another good ball, to which he was obliged to offer a shot, it was deserved reward for the niggardly control of Siddle.
It took 35 balls for England, in obdurate mode after the harum scarum batting of the first innings, to score a run off Siddle, who had figures of one for one off six overs at lunch, and even that was an ungainly single from ook through the leg side.
Cook, who reached the interval unbeaten on 12 off 57 balls, appeared content to leave anything on or outside off stump, mindful no doubt of the dismissal of his opening partner to one that bounced and moved sharply off the seam. It took him 27 balls to get off the mark when he gratefully pounced on a short ball from Lyon.
Lyth may feel there was little he could do to avoid offering his edge to Siddle, but after his latest failure he will know that his place and his technique are under scrutiny.
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He averages only 12 in this series and has a top score of 37, but perhaps most concerning will be the repetitive nature of his dismissals, with the touring team sensing, and probing, a weakness outside off stump. His century against New Zealand at Headingley Carnegie must seem a distant memory and he could now face a spell working on his game with Yorkshire.
Johnson had wrapped up England’s first innings after Mark Wood had reminded the senior batsmen that there were few terrors in the surface. He reached 24 off 41 largely untroubled balls, before skying a pull shot, with Moeen Ali dismissed shortly after for 30 with England all out in only 48.2 overs.