An impressive half-century from Mitch Starc helped Australia overcome a poor start. The fast bowler relegated Steve Smith, who made 143, to playing second fiddle in a partnership of 91 for the eighth wicket..

Starc clubbed 58 from 52 deliveries before he departed in only the second successful DRS referral for the series, leg-before to Ben Stokes.

While Australia did not score a boundary until the 15th over on the first morning of the match, England hit five boundaries in just their first 25 deliveries, admittedly in bright sunshine compared to the overcast conditions that prompted them to bowl first.

Mitchell Johnson conceded 17 runs from his first two overs, prompting his removal from the attack in favour of Lyon. The off-spinner conceded a boundary to Cook in his first over but then removed him at the start of his second, with an excellent delivery that spun past the left-hander's outside edge and clipped his off-stump.

Cook's dismissal for 22 extended his streak without a century against Australia to 28 innings, having last reached that milestone in January 2011.

The England captain's departure brought at early tea break. England will resume at 1-30 in the 8th over, with Ian Bell to join Adam Lyth (8 not out).

Stokes was England's best bowler for the second consecutive innings, with 3-133 from 29 overs. Moeen Ali and Steve Finn snared three wickets each, yet both had reason to be dissatisfied with their performances: off-spinner Ali because he was dispatched to the boundary so often, paceman Finn because he cost his team the crucial wicket of Smith before he had reached his century.

Australia began the day at 3-287, having survived the last 35 overs of day one without loss. Smith and Adam Voges were unruffled as they began the first session, even against the second new ball, to further taint the decision of England captain Cook to field upon winning the toss. Losing four wickets in the second half of the session undermined their strong position.

The final ball of the first hour brought an unexpected breakthrough, with Voges trapped leg-before by Stokes for 76. Voges had posted his second consecutive half-century, and looked assured doing it, but given the expectations of an team overhaul in the wake of the series defeat it may not be enough to preserve his position.

The next delivery, after a drinks break, united batsman Smith, bowler Finn and umpire Aleem Dar with their putrid actions. The first example was Finn's short and wide delivery. The second was Smith's inexplicable waft that saw him caught behind for 92. The third was the replay which showed Finn had dramatically overstepped, which invalidated the dismissal and kept Smith at the crease. The fourth was that Dar had failed to spot such an egregious no-ball.

Had the wicket stood it not only would have dragged Australia from 3-332 to 5-332 in consecutive deliveries but, crucially, would have left Australia with two new batsmen. When one of those batsmen was Mitch Marsh, who on his return again was easy fodder for probing English seamers, it would have put much more scoring pressure on wicketkeeper Nevill, who is better suited to a support role due to his patient approach.

Finn's error could not be written off as anomalous. In the preceding Test in Nottingham Australia twice had batsmen recalled due to overstepping English bowlers: Finn against Nevill and Mark Wood against Chris Rogers.

Having twice thought he had taken his 100th Test wicket - first of Nevill at Trent Bridge, then of Smith in this Test - only to miss out because of his own error Finn finally reached the milestone when he had Marsh fending him to Ian Bell at second slip for 3, which brought Nevill to the crease. His celebration was muted given what had preceded it.

That Marsh's stay was so brief would have disappointed the Australia selectors who recalled him for the match, after an encouraging tour-match performance last weekend. The batting conditions at the Oval were not easy — Stokes was getting some late swing and Finn was getting the ball to move off the seam — but they were much easier to what he had faced at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, yet the outcome was the same.

Stokes aside, England's pacemen were generally ineffective in the first session, with Wood in particular squandering the new ball by not making the batsmen play enough. That was why in the last half-hour before lunch Cook turned to spin at each end, with Ali and part-timer Joe Root.

While the strategy did not prevent Smith from reaching his century — it came in Ali's first over, from the Australian's 197th delivery — it did provide a breakthrough, with Nevill departing just before lunch. The wicketkeeper tried to pull Ali but got a bottom edge that was taken by his England counterpart Jos Buttler.

England were given more cause for celebration when Mitch Johnson was bowled by Ali with the last delivery of the session, for a second-ball duck. Given how assured Australia had looked for the first hour their ability to take 4-89 — and the one of Smith that wasn't — would have been savoured by the series victors.

By scoring boundaries off both Wood and Ali soon after arriving at the crease Starc offered a reminder of his batting potential.

Cook was grateful for the pre-lunch breakthroughs from Ali but eventually tired of the runs he conceded. When the captain finally removed him from the attack in the 118th over it ended a streak of eight consecutive overs in which he had conceded at least one boundary.

His replacement, Root, almost broke the partnership. Starc was on 39 when he flicked Root off his toes to Wood just behind square-leg, but the fast bowler was unable to hold on to the difficult low chance.

When Starc brought up his half-century in the following over it gave him an obscure record. It lifted him level with Dan Vettori to the most 50-plus scores made from No.9 or lower in the order, with six.

Finn finally removed Smith for 143 — 51 more runs than he should have made — by forcing the right-hander to play on to his stumps from the first ball of a new spell, ending his 394-minute innings.

Starc fell in the following over, after England successfully challenged the failed leg-before appeal from Stokes over a delivery angled into the left-hander from around the wicket. The Hawk-Eye verdict was conclusive enough to overrule Kumar Dharamasena's decision. Of the 33 challenges in the series it was only the second to result in a decision being overturned. A total of 1054.4 overs (6328 deliveries) passed between David Warner overturning a leg-before decision in Cardiff to Stokes having Starc removed on Friday.