Australia's gamble with the London weather provided England with encouragement they could still complete an historic Ashes success despite struggling to remain competitive in the deciding Test at the Oval.

Having dismissed England for an under-par 373 before lunch on the second day Australia were progressing nicely with their first century opening partnership of the series to reach 112 without loss as they prepared for a 37-over final session.

But instead of forcing home their advantage in the time remaining Australia instead adopted a cautious approach and accepted an offer of bad light from umpires Billy Bowden and Rudi Koertzen before a ball could be bowled after tea.

Facing a tricky dilemma of whether to gamble on the possibility of losing several quick wickets in bad light or try to reduce England's 261-run lead, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden opted for safety-first cricket.

It was the first indication of the massive prize at stake in a match Australia must win if they are to continue their ownership of the Ashes and deny England their first series win since 1986-7.

With possible light showers forecast Saturday set to further disrupt Australia's continuity it was a decision which may yet backfire on the tourists if they run out of time to force home their advantage.

Until the bad light, which was later followed by rain, halted proceedings early Australia had dominated the second day by denying England's hopes of reaching a minimum of 400 and then exposing their decision to choose only four specialist bowlers.

England had resumed overnight on 319 for seven hoping wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, whose 85 had gone a long way to securing victory at Trent Bridge, could steer them close to a competitive score on a good batting wicket.

Those hopes soon unravelled with Jones having his off-stump knocked back in the second over of the day from Brett Lee and Australia sensed an early conclusion to England's resistance.

But, not for the first time in the series, England successfully added a further 48 runs with Ashley Giles spearheading some determined lower order resistance with Matthew Hoggard and then Steve Harmison.

Hoggard only contributed two runs and was fortunate to survive before he had scored when he was dropped by Langer at second slip off Glenn McGrath when he dived across Shane Warne but fluffed the chance and Australia's patience was further stretched later that same over when Giles survived a strong appeal for a catch behind.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting demonstrated his frustration by arguing with umpire Koertzen at the end of the over but his mood was appeased by Hoggard chipping McGrath's slower ball straight to mid-off to end his 46 minutes of defiance.

Harmison lifted England's spirits further by dominating a 28-run last-wicket stand off only 31 balls which was only ended by Warne claiming his sixth wicket of the innings and taking him to 34 wickets to equal his previous best Ashes series tally recorded in 1993.

Needing an early breakthrough if they were to remain competitive, England instead struggled to make any inroads into Australia's mis-firing batting line-up on a still placid surface.

Forced to play an aggressive role by Hayden's loss of fluency, which has plagued him all series and put his place under threat, Langer responded superbly to the situation and dominated England's attack.

With Harmison and Hoggard struggling to cause many problems, England's decision to replace injured seamer Simon Jones with all-rounder Paul Collingwood was soon exposed with captain Michael Vaughan struggling for answers.

Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles was introduced for one over but Langer leapt at the opportunity and came down the wicket twice to hit him for six before claiming a two which enabled him to bring up his third half-century of the series off only 63 balls.

In contrast Hayden was unable to take advantage of the good batting wicket and took 81 minutes to reach double figures, which he brought up by cutting Harmison for only the second boundary of his innings.

When a chance did present itself, surprisingly, England were unable to take it with Collingwood's eighth ball being dropped by Marcus Trescothick at slip after Langer attempted to cut a ball too close to his body.

Then on 53, Langer attempted to exploit his reprieve and by tea he had raced to 75 off 106 balls with his sights firmly set on his first century of the series while Hayden had grown in confidence to reach 32 - just five runs short of claiming his highest score of a disappointing series.