Runs dried up for England as Australia dismissed Joe Root and Jonathan Trott in an attritional second session on the third day of the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval today.
England, who at 3-0 up had already won the five-match series, were 181 for three at tea, 311 runs behind Australia's first innings 492 for nine declared and still needing a further 112 to avoid the follow-on.
Kevin Pietersen was 29 not out and Ian Bell, who came into this match having scored exactly 500 runs in the series with three hundreds, four not out.
Pietersen, who at The Oval in 2005 scored a stunning maiden Test hundred to help secure a draw that saw England regain the Ashes, had been unusually restrained in facing 82 balls with just two boundaries for his runs on Friday.
He was not alone, England scoring just 84 runs in the session's 38 overs.
England resumed Friday on 32 without loss after Shane Watson's Test-best 176 and Steven Smith's 138 not out - his maiden hundred at this level - had taken Australia to their imposing total.
Alastair Cook, the England captain, was 17 not out and Joe Root 13 not out.
The openers made a solid start, with Root clipping Ryan Harris off his legs for four while left-hander Cook square-drove the fast bowler for a boundary.
But Cook's mediocre series with the bat continued when, three balls after drinks, he followed a delivery angled across him from Harris, Australia's best bowler of the Ashes, and edged to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin for 25.
