The Ashes 2023 LIVE: Score updates as England take on Australia and Stuart Broad takes most wickets in Ashes history

On a day where plenty of fielders took centre stage, Ben Stokes saved the best until last.

During the final over on Friday, Pat Cummins tried to launch Joe Root into the stands and almost succeeded, but Stokes leapt to take the catch at long on before he threw the ball up in the air as he was about to stumble over the boundary rope.

England’s captain was then able to step back onto the turf and collect the catch at the second time of asking to bring Australia’s first innings to an end on 295 and set up an exciting third day.

James Anderson has endured a tough series, claiming only four wickets in three Tests before this outing, but he was able to bring the Kia Oval crowd to their feet with the crucial scalp of Mitch Marsh.

Marsh dragged onto leg stump in the opening over of Anderson’s first spell from the Pavilion End during a purple patch for the hosts on Friday afternoon.

It helped cement England’s grip on the contest at this point, with five wickets falling in the middle session and Australia walking off on 186 for seven.

After Mark Wood’s breakthrough, Stuart Broad got on a roll after lunch with Usman Khawaja and Travis Head out in quick succession to move the veteran on to 20 scalps for the series and bring up the 150-mark for Test wickets against Australia.

Broad has plenty of Aussies for company at the top of the wicket-takers column in this series and Mitchell Starc (19), Pat Cummins (17) and Josh Hazlewood (15) will get one last opportunity to bump up their numbers when they try to bowl England out for an attainable target on day three.

Remarkably, Chris Woakes is now up to 15 dismissals despite featuring in only five innings. Before he gets the chance to improve his figures, he may bat at three with Moeen Ali only able to come in after 120 minutes of England’s innings on Saturday or after the fall of their fifth wicket.

Here are the leading wicket takers for the series:

1. Stuart Broad – 20 – Nine innings
2. Mitchell Starc – 19 – Six innings
3. Pat Cummins – 17 – Eight innings
4. Chris Woakes – 15 – Five innings
5. Josh Hazlewood – 15 – Six innings

Australia crawled along at a snail’s pace during the opening hour of day two and, whether by coincidence or chance, it took Stuart Broad witchcraft to inspire a change in fortunes.

Labuschagne had scored nine runs from 81 deliveries before Broad decided to rearrange the bails ahead of the fifth ball of the 43rd over. Seconds later and Mark Wood found the edge where Joe Root took a stunner at first slip.

Broad’s agent of chaos act worked a treat and he has not ruled out a repeat when Australia are chasing. “It was a pretty successful result wasn’t it? So, I think if the game gets tight I might wander up again,” the England seamer smirked.

There was more movement in the morning session on day two than any other time in the match with almost 40% more swing than on day one.

That should account for the fact that by lunch Australia had played attacking shots to 22% of deliveries. England attacked 41% in their first innings.

But what will the ball do today? The overhead conditions should be good for bowling but England will come out all guns blazing as they usually do.

Early wickets will play into Australia’s hands but if Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett get off to a flyer it could be England’s day.

The clouds are slightly dark over The Oval this morning and there is a few drops of rain on the forecast. Nothing major like the last couple of days at Old Traffors but there could be a few showers around early on and in the late afternoon.

It should be friendly bowling conditions for Australia and a stop-start day may interrupt the rhythm of both teams. Then again the rain could miss the ground completely and everything will be fine.

Stuart Broad admitted his unorthodox bail switch just before Marnus Labuschagne’s wicket “worked out pretty magically” and joked the Australian batter never believes he is out.

Towards the end of a dull and tedious morning session that yielded just 54 runs in two hours of play, Broad tried to conjure up a breakthrough for England by playing mind games with the Australian number three.

He walked over to the stumps behind the batter between balls and just swapped the bails around, Labuschagne might have smiled, but it was Broad who had the last laugh, with the batter edging behind the next ball off Mark Wood.

Australia’s slow batting yesterday was summed up by the innings of Marnus Labuschagne who scored just nine runs from 82 deliveries.

Alongside Usman Khawaja, Labuschagne took it upon himself to grind England down but his lack of scoring shots continued to buoy up the bowlers who must have thought he was always close to getting out.

Labuschagne’s ‘expected runs’ total for his innings was -31.1, meaning he scored 31 runs less than he would have been expected to by CricViz given the bowling and conditions.

His attacking shot percentage was 8.5% – the lowest of any batter in the match. In comparison Khawaja’s was 19.1%.

Summer is over. The sky is thick and heavy with cloud, the breeze chilly enough for Marnus Labuschagne and a handful of Australians to put on their knitwear. England are 2-1 down, the Ashes are gone, and Ben Stokes has just lost the most meaningful toss of the series. It is the dictionary definition of a bowler’s morning, and England – this England – are going out to bat.

The Stokes-McCullum era has faced many challenges over the past 12 months but nothing quite like this. Not on the first morning in these conditions, against this attack. Mitchell Starc has a glint in his eye; Pat Cummins is bowling 90mph bouncers. So is this the day to tweak the dials of Bazball? Would they turn down the volume just a notch?

Since its inception, Bazball has spawned into more than just a cricket strategy. It has been mentioned in parliament. There is a race horse named Bazball. ‘Rishi Sunak needs to play political Bazball,’ read a recent headline. Bazball has become whatever anyone wants it to be: a mindset, a Ted Talk, Jake Humphrey telling you to get up at 5am and take vitamins. A life motto embroidered on a cushion: Hakuna Matata. Yolo. Live, Laugh, Love. Bazball.

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan says that Australia batted with ‘fear’ yesterday as they plodded along in an effort to reach and pass England’s first innings total.

“They are taking home the urn, but I’ve never seen Australia play with so much fear,” Vaughan told Test Match Special. “They are usually so aggressive and try to take the game forward.

“They have just sat in to bat a long period of time without remembering you have to put a bit of pressure on the bowlers. This morning I thought it was the worst I’ve ever seen Australia bat in my time watching them. They never play like that.”