Ashes paper Talk: What the press made of day two at the Oval

A second day at the Oval and a second Australian century as Steve Smith grabbed a maiden Test hundred as the tourists continued to dominate proceedings.

Paul Hayward - Daily Telegraph In team selection, and motivation, England have fallen short of the pre-Test rhetoric about leaving marks in history. This is an impenetrable, sometimes remote England side, who are either blind to the dangers of surrendering the initiative so close to a winter series or perhaps so confident of their superiority that they have written this match off as an irrelevance, if only subconsciously. Either way it is not what was promised, or expected by the crowd, who have learned that the Oval is not always an Ashes crucible. Summer's bird has flown. 'No mercy' was the theme of the build-up. No let-up. Revenge would be taken for all those years of Aussie sadism, when the battering would not cease until the plane was heaving clear of Sydney. England made all the right noises about making history but then chose to open the gate to Australia instead. Kavin Garside - The Independent The obvious failure of England's selection thrust Jonathan Trott into the piece. Thus an already bloated five-man attack acquired a sixth component. England's lesser South African is often the captain's idea of the bowling joker, not in the humorous sense à la Seventies sporting panto It's A Knockout but the random variety; trundle in off a short run, wobble it about a bit and hope the batsmen drops off. Steve Smith showed what he thought of the ploy by hoisting Trott for a six to reach his first Test century and Australia's fourth of the series. Oliver Holt - The Mirror England have been the dominant side in this series and their thoughts should be turning to the tour Down Under with nothing but confidence. But in the public mind, at least, doubts are creeping in. When the urn is presented to Alastair Cook on Sunday, there will be concern amid the triumph. Simon Kerrigan did not bowl. Not a single ball. On the second day of his England debut, he was left to hang. There is no point criticising England skipper Alastair Cook too harshly for that. He was in an invidious position. Kerrigan was paralysed by nerves on Wednesday and smacked all over The Oval by Shane Watson. England struggled again on day two as Australia played with more and more freedom.