Shane Warne once again rocked England before bad light came to England’s rescue on the fourth day of the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on Sunday.
England were seven for one in their second innings, after Warne had struck with his fourth ball, when bad light and then rain forced an early tea with the home side 13 runs ahead.
Earlier England dismissed Australia for 367, a first innings lead of six, thanks to Andrew Flintoff’s five for 78 and Matthew Hoggard’s four for 97, including four for four in 19 balls.
Australia, who have to win to square the series and retain the Ashes, had batted on in gloomy conditions where, in normal circumstances they would have gone off the field and they refused an offer of bad light from the umpires.
Conditions were still extremely overcast when England began their second innings and it was no surprise when Australia captain Ricky Ponting brought leg-spin great Shane Warne on in the fourth over of the innings.
The only bowler to take 600 Test wickets, who’d taken six for 122 in England’s initial 373 in what was his last Test in England, had first innings centurion Andrew Strauss caught by Simon Katich at short leg for one.
England were then two for one but five runs later the umpires offered the batsmen the light, even though Australia were preparing to bring on left-arm spinner Michael Clarke at the other end in a bid to keep play going.
Marcus Trescothick was two not out and England captain Michael Vaughan four not out with the umpires judging the conditions ”unsuitable” according to cricket’s Law Nine.
Flintoff’s haul was the only the second five-wicket haul of his career after claiming five for 58 against West Indies in Barbados last year.
At lunch Australia were 356 for six, a deficit of 17, Hoggard dismissing dangerman Adam Gilchrist lbw for 23 with what turned out to be the last ball of the session. Clarke, dropped by Flintoff on three, was 23 not out.
The dashing right-hander was dropped by wicket-keeper Geraint Jones, who not for the first time this side grassed a one-handed chance that was heading towards first slip Trescothick off Hoggard.
But it was not a costly error with Clarke lbw to Hoggard for 25.
Warne had been batting well this series but he fell for nought when he skied a hook off Flintoff to Michael Vaughan at mid-on, who almost made a mess of a routine catch but grabbed the ball at the second attempt Australia resumed Sunday on 277 for two, 96 behind, with Hayden 110 not out and Damien Martyn nine not out.
But the struggling Martyn, who’d been averaging a lowly 21 in this series, added just one to his overnight score before he was tucked up by all-rounder Flintoff’s seventh delivery on Sunday and late on a pull, he lobbed a catch to Paul Collingwood running in from square leg.
Australia were then 281 for three in gloomy conditions and six runs later England should have dismissed Clarke when second slip Flintoff, despite getting two hands to the ball, failed to hold an edged drive off Hoggard.
England then captured the prize wicket of Hayden whose near seven-hour vigil ended when Flintoff’s late inswinger had the Queenslander lbw. Hayden faced 303 deliveries, just over 50 overs, and struck 18 fours for what was his first Test century since he scored back-to-back hundreds against Sri Lanka in Cairns in July last year.
Flintoff had troubled Australia’s left-handers throughout his first Ashes series and removed another when he had Simon Katich, also lbw, for one. – Sapa-AFP