England struggled to 31/1 in their second innings after being asked to follow-on as Australia closed on a consolation win.
|||London - England struggled to 31 for one in their second innings after being asked to follow-on as Australia closed on a consolation victory on the third day of the final Ashes test at The Oval on Saturday.
Adam Lyth was caught by Michael Clarke off Peter Siddle for 10, continuing a wretched run of form for the England opener.
Captain Alastair Cook battled to 12 not at lunch and Ian Bell was on nought with England, who have already won the series, trailing by 301 runs.
Earlier, Moeen Ali and Mark Wood extended their ninth-wicket partnership to 57 with a flurry of boundaries in the opening half hour.
Wood struck six fours in his 24 before he attempted to pull Mitchell Johnson and spooned a catch to Mitchell Starc at mid-on.
Moeen, England's top-scorer with 30, edged Johnson's next delivery to wicketkeeper Peter Nevill to end the innings on 149, 332 runs behind Australia's first-innings 481.
Clarke had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on and Cook and Lyth batted carefully, in sharp contrast to the hosts' carefree approach in the last session on Friday when they lost seven wickets.
Cook took 27 balls to score his first run and Lyth was equally watchful before he was undone by an angled delivery from Siddle and Clarke took a good low catch at second slip.
Siddle bowled five successive maidens in a probing spell but Cook and Bell held firm.
Reuters
