Postpublished at 10:47 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Henry Moeran
BBC Test Match Special commentator
Chris Woakes looking at the pitch.
Is the long-awaited appearance at three finally going to happen?!
Summary
Broad announces he will retire after conclusion of final Ashes Test
England end day with a lead of 377
Hosts slip from 360-5 to 379-9 - losing four wickets for 19
Root (91) falls short of brilliant century
Bairstow (78) & Root add 110 in less than 25 overs
Root anchors middle order after loss of Stokes (42) and Brook (7)
Crawley makes 73 at top of order alongside Duckett (42)
Australia, who lead series 2-1, have retained Ashes
Postpublished at 10:47 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
get involved Get Involvedpublished at 10:46 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Bairstow currently having a long, long net - coming in at three?
Roman at The Oval
Postpublished at 10:44 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Michael Vaughan
Former England captain on BBC Test Match SpecialThe "snoozeball" style of play has given Australia a lead but their style perplexed me yesterday morning.
Marnus Labuschange's innings was baffling, scoring nine off 82 balls. It is actually hard to do that!
But England bowled very well, the only time they let it slip was at the back end during Todd Murphy and Pat Cummins' partnership. But other than that, they were magnificent.
It looks a good day for batting today. England have got the conditions in their favour, even if there is a little bit of rain around over the next couple of days.
get involved Get Involvedpublished at 10:41 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Personally, I've seen more boring batting displays than Australia's, but they were all necessary. For instance, Butler's 200 ball 20-something in Adelaide last year and England batted 100 overs with a run rate under two as recent as a year and a bit ago. Maybe Australia thought, with the conditions, taking a cautious approach is needed. Having said that when both batters go to the shell and not rotate the strike at all, it's just cornering yourself.
Stephan, Coventry
'The day is going to get better and better'published at 10:40 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
BBC weather presenter Darren Bett: "It is not going to be a washout this weekend but it is probably not going to be completely dry.
"There is a chance of some showers today but I don't think they are going to be heavy and the greatest risk is during the morning session. There could be one or two hanging on in the afternoon but the day is going to get better and better.
"A west to south westerly wind will pick up and push the showers through. We will see more sun as the day goes on and it will get drier and drier, with temperatures of 22 degrees.
Postpublished at 10:39 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Good news, Matthew.
BBC's Weather's Darren Bett has given us a more detailed forecast...
Postpublished at 10:36 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at The Oval
A couple hours ago I suggested conditions were good for bowling. Things have changed. To the naked eye, these look like the best batting conditions of the match.
Overseas TMS linkpublished at 10:34 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Test Match Specialpublished at 10:33 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Daily ZaltzQuiz answerpublished at 10:31 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Andy Zaltzman
Cricket statistician on Test Match Special(a) 171 runs was the average first innings gap in all Ashes cricket from 1985 to 2021-22.
(b) Six. The only other Ashes series in England involving three Tests with a first-innings gap below 30 was in 1909 (there have been two such series in Australia, in 1946-47 and 1962-63).
(c) 54 – just over half of the matches in the previous 20 Ashes series had one side take a first-innings of 150-plus.
Postpublished at 10:30 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
It was another corker of a Daily ZaltzQuiz question this morning.
Now it is time for the answer...
Never miss a wicketpublished at 10:29 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Find us in your phone's app store, or if you have the app installed head to the notifications section on the menu.
Image source, Getty ImagesPostpublished at 10:27 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Interesting. Chris Woakes does seem like the most likely candidate - though Mark Wood or the Nighthawk would be good for a laugh.
Postpublished at 10:26 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at The OvalChris Woakes has just done some visualisation and shadow batting behind the stumps with his pads on. England number three with Moeen Ali down the order?
get involved Get Involved -Daily ZaltzQuizpublished at 10:24 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Good morning all. ZaltzQuiz answers: a) High first innings scores not unusual, and this series is notably atypical, so more than double this series ~ 187 average first innings delta b) Very low, 9/104 c) Quite a few, 39/104
Shaun, Essex.
Postpublished at 10:20 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Just a reminder that because Moeen Ali was off the field yesterday with groin injury he will not be able to bat until:
120 minutes have passed in England's second innings
OR
At the fall of the fifth wicket.
Image source, Getty Imagesget involved Get Involved - Daily ZaltzQuizpublished at 10:16 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Martyn Thompson: I’m going to say a) 120, b) 10 and c) 30, with Australia getting a lot of big first innings leads in the 1990s.
Simon, Kidderminster: A) 80 B) 10 C) 20
Postpublished at 10:15 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at The OvalBen Stokes is practising his off-spin again this morning, this time under the watchful eye of spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel.
Daily ZaltzQuizpublished at 10:10 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
A reminder of today's Daily ZaltzQuiz:
This summer’s Ashes series have been blessed by closely-fought matches (although, ironically, the only one-sided match was the one that ended in a soggy draw). The gaps between the teams after the first innings has been 7 runs at Edgbaston, 91 at Lord’s, 26 at Headingley, 275 at Old Trafford, and now 12 at The Oval. The women’s Test saw a 10-run margin after the first innings.
To illustrate quite how lucky we have been as cricket lovers this summer, today’s guesswork challenge looks at the previous 20 men’s Ashes series, from 1985 to 2021-22, comprising 104 Tests. In those matches:
(a) What was the average first-innings gap between the two teams?
(b) How many matches had a first-innings gap below 30?
(c) How many matches had a first-innings gap of 150 runs or more?
get involved Get Involved - Daily ZaltzQuizpublished at 10:07 British Summer Time 29 July 2023
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Daily ZaltzQuiz, a) 78, much more than this tense series. b) 4 c) 20
Rohan in Birmingham
Given Australian dominance in late 20th century before England's little stint of superiority in the early 2000s I'm going to say A - 45 B - 15 C - 25. Too many times down under have England started a game slowly and led to a mass first innings deficit.
Freddie in Cornwall