5th Ashes Test England v Australia, Day 4: Rain washes out play

The fourth day's play in the fifth and final Ashes test between England and Australia was abandoned due to rain at The Oval on Saturday.

The start of the fourth day's play in the fifth and final Ashes Test between England and Australia was delayed by rain at The Oval on Saturday.

England, who at 3-0 up had already won the five-match series, resume day four on 247 for four, still 245 runs behind Australia's first innings 492 for nine declared but needing just 46 more runs to avoid the follow-on.

Ian Bell was left holding the fort for England yet again as they struggled for runs on the third day of the final Ashes Test against Australia at The Oval on Friday.

Bell, who came into this match having scored exactly 500 runs in the series with three hundreds, was 29 not out off 110 balls in nearly two-and-a-half hours at the crease.

Meanwhile Test debutant Chris Woakes, Bell's Warwickshire team-mate, was 15 not out following a final session played under gloomy skies despite the glare of the floodlights.

Several England batsmen got in but failed to press on, with Kevin Pietersen making an unusually restrained 50 in 133 balls.

England scored 215 runs in the day's 98.3 overs, the run-rate rarely rising above two an over, in a match where victory would mean they had won four Tests in a home Ashes for the first time.