England field against Australia in final Ashes Test

England field against Australia in final Ashes Test

LONDON - England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to field against Australia in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on Thursday.

England cricket captain Alastair Cook is eyeing a 4-1 Ashes victory

A green-tinged pitch and overcast skies offered encouragement to England's pacemen who have twice skittled Australia cheaply in the their past two first innings this series.

This was especially the case in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, where Australia collapsed to 60 all out on the first morning, with Stuart Broad taking eight for 15, in a match England won by an innings and 78 runs to take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

England were unchanged after deciding against recalling all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson, still ruled out with a side injury that also forced him to miss the fourth Test.

Australia made two changes in what is a final international match before retirement for both captain Michael Clarke and opening batsman Chris Rogers.

They recalled all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in place of older brother and top-order batsman Shaun Marsh, while experienced paceman Peter Siddle was brought into the side for his first Test of this series after edging out Pat Cummins in the race to replace the injured Josh Hazlewood.

England have never won four Tests in a home Ashes series.

Teams

England: Adam Lyth, Alastair Cook (capt), Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wkt), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Steven Finn

Australia: David Warner, Chris Rogers, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke (capt), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill (wkt), Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)

TV umpire: S Ravi (IND)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

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