England's batsmen squandered a glorious opportunity to take control of the fifth and final Test at The Oval, as an Australian attack lacking the services of a specialist spinner overcame a dry, dusty and pace-free wicket to chisel out eight first-day wickets after losing an important toss. Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss contributed chalk-and-cheese half-centuries to a close-of-play total of 307 for 8, while Jonathan Trott marked his Test debut with a composed 41, but once again, no single batsman was able to make the day his own. And as a series century count of 7 to 1 in Australia's favour will testify, that has been the single biggest difference between the two sides.
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