Australia 295 (Smith 71, Woakes 3-61) lead England 283 by 12 runs
Australia went nowhere for much of the morning session, adding 13 runs off the bat in the first hour of play, but Smith’s arrival at the crease – after Marnus Labuschagne was brilliantly caught by Joe Root at slip – changed the rhythm of the game.
He crashed consecutive early boundaries through mid-off off James Anderson, breaking Don Bradman’s record for the most runs by an overseas batter at The Oval with the first of them, and held Australia’s innings together after lunch as five wickets fell at the far end.
Broad broke the game open, taking two wickets in his first two overs after the interval to remove Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, while none of Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc reached 20 as England sensed the possibility of a substantial lead.
But after Smith survived a narrow judgement call from TV umpire Nitin Menon on a run-out chance and Cummins overturned an lbw decision, Australia chipped away at the deficit. Murphy played his shots from No. 10, hooking Mark Wood for the first, second and third sixes of his professional career, and flicked a single off his pads to long leg to bring them into the lead.
After Woakes trapped Murphy lbw, Cummins swiped Joe Root down the ground only for Ben Stokes to take a sharp catch on the boundary at long-on. It meant a first-innings lead of just 12 runs, with the fifth Test effectively becoming a one-innings shoot-out.
More to follow…
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
Source: ESPN Crickinfo