Ashes, 5th Test: ENG pacers dominate AUS, score reads 186/7 (Day 2, Tea)

LONDON: It was complete domination from England pacers, led by veteran Stuart Broad as Australia lost some key batters during the second session during the second day of the fifth Ashes Test against Australia at The Oval on Friday.

At the end of the second session, Australia was at 186/7, with Steve Smith (40*) and Pat Cummins (1*) unbeaten.

Australia started the second session at 115/2 with Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja unbeaten at the crease with scores of 13* and 47* respectively. Stuart Broad helped England solidify their grip on the match when he dismissed both Usman Khawaja (47 in 157 balls) and Travis Head (4) in quick succession.

With this, he brought up his 150 Ashes wickets and became the first England bowler and overall third bowler to do so.

Australia was 127/4 after these two quick dismissals.

Following this dismissal, Mitchell Marsh and Smith carried the innings forward. England reached the 150-run mark in 59.5 overs.

Marsh injected some life into the innings with some aggressive shot-making. However, he could last for only 28 balls as James Anderson took his wicket by hitting the top of his leg stump for 16 runs.

England was 151/5 at that point. Smith held the other end steady, but Australia continued to lose wickets.

Alex Carey was dismissed for just 10 runs after Ben Stokes caught him on a Joe Root delivery.

Australia was 170/6 at that point. Mitchell Starc also was dismissed for seven runs by Mark Wood. England was 185/7.

Smith and skipper Cummins took the Aussies through the remainder of the session without any loss of wicket. At the end of the first session, Australia registered a score of 115/2 with Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja unbeaten at the crease with scores of 13* and 47* respectively.

Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne kicked off Day 2 looking to chase down the massive trail of 222 runs. Labuschagne solely depended on his defensive technique to face the fierce English bowling line-up. Khawaja on the other hand took up the role of scoring boundaries.

Their innings progressed steadily with both batters taking their time on the pitch and dictating the run rate according to their own terms. Their partnership was a complete contrast to England's 'Bazball' approach. They got to the drinks with 21 runs after facing 14 overs.

Both batters were quite comfortable defending against England's bowling length which was slightly short of the length.

Before Australia reached the three-digit mark, Mark Wood removed Labuschagne from the pitch for a score of 9 after facing 82 balls.

Wood found a thick outside edge, Bairstow decided to hold his ground, Root saw the opportunity a little too late as he snatched the ball with his left hand to end Labuschagne's stay on the pitch. Steve Smith came in to replace the departing batter and played two beautiful straight drives to push Australia's scoring rate.

Australia scored a total of 54 runs in the entire first session. Labuschagne ended up with the third-lowest strike rate for an Australian batter in an Ashes innings after facing a minimum of 75 balls.

Brief Score: England 283 (Harry Brook 85, Ben Duckett 41, Mitchell Starc 4/82) vs Australia 185/7 (Usman Khawaja 47, Steve Smith 40*; Stuart Broad 2/31).