On a day where rain played spoilsport, Usman Khawaja and David Warner both got to their respective fifties as their century stand drove Australia’s strong start in pursuit of 384. Both batters continued from where they left off in the morning to get the visitors to 135/0 at the drinks break in the afternoon, before bad weather intervened. What started off as a steady drizzle intensified into a proper downpour, forcing the umpires to call for an early Tea. Hopes for a resumption soon faded away and incessant rains forced a premature abandonment of the day’s play.

Much of the morning’s talk was about Stuart Broad’s overnight announcement regarding his retirement. England chose to continue batting with Broad and his bowling partner-in-crime James Anderson together at the crease. The fun lasted only for about 10 minutes which included a slogged six from Broad against Mitchell Starc, much to the delight of the vocal crowd at The Oval. However, Todd Murphy got Anderson LBW to close out the innings, leaving Broad unbeaten in his final Test innings. Having walked into the ground to a guard of honour from the Australians and a huge reception from the crowd, Broad walked off to a similar response.

Despite Broad hogging the limelight, it were the Australian openers who shone bright in the morning, thereby ensuring that the visitors ticked the first box in pursuit of the big target. Unlike his first innings, Khawaja batted with positive intent from the word go and didn’t miss out on scoring opportunities. Warner was his usual self, being very busy at the crease and the two openers got Australia off to a strong start. The scoring rate was healthy enough and neither batter gave England a chance.