Mystery over Wood tactics as Ashes go down to the wire

England will take a full bowling complement into their final-day push to level the Ashes series despite mystery surrounding the use of their fastest bowler Mark Wood, who bowled just three overs in Australia's solid start to their daunting run chase.

With frontline spinner Moeen Ali already nursing a groin strain that kept him off the field throughout Australia's first innings on Friday, the absence of Wood from the bowling crease until the 33rd over on Sunday led to speculation England's ageing bowling stocks were being stretched.

By the time Wood was thrown the ball, Australia's openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja had reached 99 without loss and the victory target of 384 that seemed a pipe dream when they started their innings yesterday morning had been whittled to merely a long shot.

The first-wicket pair resume on day five with Australia 0-135 after rain curtailed play midway through day four, with Warner unbeaten on 58 while Khawaja's outstanding form for the campaign continued with 69no.

England had entered the final Test with the same attack from the fourth match at Manchester, which also happened to be the oldest bowling group fielded by an England team in 95 years.

With James Anderson having turned 41 yesterday, about-to-be-retired Stuart Broad 37 and swing bowler Chris Woakes 34, the limited input from 36-year-old Moeen (who bowled just five overs) and 33-year-old Wood led to suggestions the home team might have run out of gas just before the finish line.

But England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick claimed Wood's delayed entry into the innings more than two hours after it began was for reasons "tactical" rather than medical, although he didn't go on to detail the strategy behind it.

"He's fit to bowl, and pretty much like everybody there's little aches and pains that are coming off the back of a big five-Test series," Trescothick said at the end of day four, with England searching for 10 wickets and Australia needing 249 runs from the minimum 98 overs scheduled for today.

"Pretty much both teams would be travelling in the same way at the moment, but everyone's fit to bowl.

"(Moeen) obviously has the little niggle that he's got. It's been easier over the last couple of days, he's had a bit of rest and put his feet up. It's not 100 per cent, of course it's not, it's probably not going to be for two or three weeks from now.

"But we've got a little bit out of him, and we'll continue to try and do that tomorrow."

While England were disappointed not to have claimed at least a wicket or two from the 38 overs that were possible in overcast conditions before rain arrived around 2.40pm on Sunday, they believe opportunities will come as the see-sawing series reaches its climax.

As Trescothick noted, The Oval is regarded as the best batting surface among England's Test venues and home team Surrey's recent County Championship successes have been built on bowling first (upon winning the toss) and backing themselves to chase down whatever target presents in the fourth innings.

As such, after their innings was wrapped up for 395 first thing Sunday morning having scored at almost five runs an over throughout day three, England understood their greying bowling line-up faced a sizeable task to claim the 10 wickets needed to ensure the series finishes 2-2.

"It wasn't going to be a 150 bowled out, that's for sure," Trescothick said of Australia's fourth innings.

"We know that statistically The Oval is the best batting pitch in the country. But we're hoping that when we get back out there, the pressure of the occasion, the bowlers that we've got and maybe a little bit of spin from the pitch or a bit of assistance, and suddenly you get them two or three down.

"But they (Australia) have played well to get themselves in this position.

"They've had a good start with the bat and seen off the new ball, but in the course of the four innings so far the new ball seems to be the best time to bat.

"It definitely slows down, gets harder to score and it seems to be the ball grips a little bit more off the pitch as it gets a little bit older.

"A couple of early ones in the morning and suddenly we're right back on, and right in the mix."

Trescothick is also of the view the rain that persisted until the scheduled time for stumps (around 6pm) on Sunday and was forecast to return during the night might "give a bit of spice" to the otherwise benign Oval pitch.

England's other stroke of fortune came when Wood was belatedly introduced to the attack half an hour after lunch and, in his third over, fired down a searing bouncer that struck Khawaja on the right shoulder blade as he took evasive action then deflected at speed into the back of his batting helmet.

The force of that blow was so significant it damaged the ball which was replaced, with the substitute version immediately displaying greater bounce and even a hint of swing, if Khawaja's signal to the umpires who chose the new version was interpreted correctly.

"I think it was just a bit harder more than anything else," Trescothick said of the replacement ball which England had in their possession for just nine deliveries before the rain came.

"That was the difference, the boys could sense the ball was making a different noise on the bat so immediately you've got a bit more life in it.

"Balls seem to have gone vey soft very quickly in this game and in the course of this series, and I know both captains have tried to get them changed on numerous occasions.

"Whether it makes any difference when the rain came down and it was saved for tomorrow, who knows?

"Australia will get a heavy roller in the morning and we'll try and go to work after that."

In addition to the as-yet unknown properties of the substitute ball, England's hopes are pinned on Broad producing one final magic wicket-taking spell in his final day as a professional cricketer.

Broad announced his intention to retire at game's end after play on Saturday, and has already landed one element of a dream farewell by belting the final ball he faced in Test cricket from Mitchell Starc beyond the midwicket boundary to register a six from his last shot.

But Trescothick and other members of England's coaching staff believe a more fitting finale would be for their second-greatest wicket-taker of all time (behind Anderson) to bowl his team to victory, completing a five-wicket haul to deny Australia a record-breaking run chase.

"We were talking this morning about it," Trescothick said of the pre-game chat in the home team's dressing room. "If there was one more fairytale left it would be ideal if it was Stuart's last five-for, with one to win or two to win, and he runs in and gets his fifth wicket or something like that.

"That would be brilliant, wouldn't it?

"We don't often see quite the fairytales we want to see, but it would be lovely to dream of it."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Match drawn

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood