Australia's aim to beat their two opponents, England's batsmen and England's weather, with a flurry of early wickets on day four of the final Ashes Test was left unfulfilled, with rain setting in before lunch.
In 17 overs at the Oval at the start of day four, 16 with a new ball, Australia snared only two of the four wickets needed for their second win of a series already won by England. 
Rain arrived 45 minutes before the scheduled break at 1pm and was so persistent the umpires elected to bring forward lunch to 12.35pm in the hope of a quicker resumption if the weather improved.
The skies were still clear in south London when play began on time. England resumed at 6-203, with Jos Buttler on 33 and Mark Wood on 0. They needed another 129 runs to make Australia to bat again, but the more realistic goal would have been to resist the Australian bowlers long enough for what Buttler quipped was "the great British weather [that] may come and give us a bit of hope [of escaping with a draw]".
Captain Michael Clarke rewarded Siddle's fine bowling in the Test by allowing him to share the second new ball. He justified this faith by striking in the fifth over of the day, when he trapped Mark Wood leg-before for 6.
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena was unconvinced by the appeal, for a delivery that angled into the right-hander and beat his inside-edge, but the Australians' challenge was rewarded when Hawk-Eye predicted the ball would have thudded into leg-stump.
Wood's replacement, Moeen Ali, was given a torrid time - not due to the pace of Siddle's deliveries but where they landed. In the first full over Ali faced from the right-armer, he edged just short of first slip, had a delivery pass just outside his outside edge as he sought to block and then just past his inside edge - and over the stumps - as he tried again.
Mitch Johnson's unimpressive start with the new ball at the other end saw him replaced after only two overs. Again, Clarke surprised.
While Mitch Starc is one of the world's most formidable pacemen with a new ball, the captain instead plumped for Mitch Marsh, who had bowled with great vigour.
Marsh claimed the wicket of Buttler in his second over, although it was admittedly due less to his guile than it was to the Englishman's awful shot. Given the circumstances it was unfathomable why he tried to drive on the up, offering a chance that the lanky Starc did well to take at ankle height at wide mid-off.
The wicketkeeper's contribution of 42 from 107 deliveries was easily his best for the series, yet the manner of departure would have irked him and England's hierarchy.
Stuart Broad's batting has regressed significantly in recent years, but he applied himself well upon joining Ali at the crease.
Siddle aside, Clarke was reluctant to give his bowlers anything longer than three-over spell. By the second half of the session, it seemed his strategy had shifted to trying to capitalise of the left-handers' reputation as being susceptible against short-pitch bowling by recalling Johnson with a mandate for hostile bowling.
It was in that first over in his second spell that the rain began. The rain progressively got heavier, enough for the umpires to intervene at the end of the following over.
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SCOREBOARD  
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings 481
ENGLAND: 1st innings 149
ENGLAND: 2nd innings  R  M  B  4s  6s
A Lyth c Clarke b Siddle  10  49  33  2  0
A Cook c Voges b Smith  85  333  234  11  0
I Bell c Clarke b Marsh  13  59  40  2  0
J Root c Starc b Johnson  11  51  30  1  0
J Bairstow c Voges b Lyon  26  66  48  5  0
B Stokes c Clarke b Lyon  0  2  4  0  0
J Buttler c Starc b Marsh  42  145  107  4  0
M Wood lbw Siddle   6  31  16  1  0
M Ali not out   17  53  41  3  0
S Broad not out   10  40  24  1  0
Sundries (12b 18lb 7w 1nb)  38
TOTAL (for eight wickets)  258
FALL: 19 (Lyth), 62 (Bell), 99 (Root), 140 (Bairstow), 140 (Stokes), 199 (Cook), 221 (Wood), 223 (Buttler).
BOWLING: M Johnson 16-2-65-1 (2w), M Starc 16-4-40-0 (1nb), N Lyon 28-7-53-2, P Siddle 22-12-25-2, M Marsh 13-4-38-2 (1w/5), S Smith 1-0-7-1.
BATTING TIME: 420 mins. OVERS: 96.
LUNCH FOURTH DAY