LONDON, (Reuters) – Australia claimed the honours on the opening day of the final Ashes test at the Oval yesterday after England again found a variety of ways to squander their wickets.
England, needing a win to reclaim the Ashes, were 307 for eight at the close of another fascinating day in the series, on a pitch their batsman Ian Bell said resembled a turning Indian surface rather than a typical Oval track.
Marcus North extracted sharp turn with his occasional off-spin after the pitch had been left uncovered on Wednesday to bake under the hottest day of the English summer.
Bell, who justified the decision to promote him to the pivotal number three position with the top score of 72, said it had been frustrating at times trying to time the ball. “I guess after the spin we have seen on day one which is quite unusual for here we are quite happy to have runs on the board,” he told a news conference. “We don’t know what is a good score here until Australia bat.
“It is very unusual at the Oval to see it spinning like that and so dry and hopefully that’s a good thing for us. I don’t think it will be particularly easy to bat last on.”
Neither team could have anticipated how the pitch would play.
England left out their second spinner Monty Panesar and Australia omitted Nathan Hauritz, keeping faith with the pace attack who bowled the home side out twice within three days in the fourth test at Headingley.
Andrew Strauss won the toss for the fourth time and England’s only century-maker of the series moved confidently to 55 with 11 boundaries punched square of the wicket.
He was out shortly after lunch caught behind from a straight delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus, although television replays indicated it had been a no-ball.
