Farbrace defends England bowlers after Australia dominate

Assistant coach Paul Farbrace refused to criticise England’s bowlers despite seeing Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh pile on the runs for Australia on the third day of the third Test at the WACA.

The tourists managed just one wicket all day as Smith and Marsh, with a career-best 229 and 181 respectively, shared an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 301.

Australia finished the day on 549 for four in reply to England’s 403, leading by 146, and in a strong position to regain the Ashes with two Tests still remaining.

But Farbrace felt England’s bowlers did all they could, telling Sky Sports: “We have had a tough day.

“They played exceptionally well. Smith has played well, as he has done all series. proved to be one of those days.

“I thought our body language was pretty good. We stuck at it pretty well. I think watching it from side on, we worked hard and got stuck in.”

Australia are now overwhelming favourites to recapture the urn over the next two days.

But Farbrace is confident England can still save the match and keep the series alive.

“Until the Test match finishes you have to believe you can get something from it,” he said.

“We came into this game believing we could get something out of it and keep the series alive going into the next game. There is nothing to suggest that we can’t still do that.

“Yes, it is going to be hard but that is what it is. It is Test cricket, tough cricket, and you have got to get stuck in.”

Marsh celebrated his recall to the Australia side with a maiden Test century on his home ground.

T“You can look back at how your bowlers bowl. We think we have worked really hard as a bowling group and toiled away really well.

“We haven’t got the extra pace that the Australians have got and we don’t have magical spin. We have what we have. We knew that coming into the series.

“We knew there were going to be times where it was going to be tough for our bowlers and today has he 26-year-old feels his hard work away from the international scene has finally come to fruition.

“I enjoyed it a lot. It was nice to get a big partnership with Smudger (Smith). A great day for Australia,” he told BT Sport. “It will be probably something I look back on at the end of the game.

“It is special to get a hundred in front of my home fans. It was pure relief. It is what you work hard for, what you strive for.”

Two kinds of pain, then. Overton is still feeling the hairline fracture to his left rib that threatens to put him out of next week’s Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. It first surfaced in Adelaide, after being hit by a Pat Cummins bouncer, and then resurfaced in Perth when he landed on it diving to his left trying to take a catch off his own bowling.

Shortly after that, he tried to bowl a bouncer. That was when things got really bad. Doctors told him that he risked a punctured lung if he took another blow. And yet, the way he struggled on - bowling 24 overs, fronting up with the bat against Australia’s quick bowlers, putting himself around in the field - probably said quite a lot about Overton as a character. He is the sort of guy who will never back down, even when it would probably be quite a good idea to do so. “I’ve always been taught to fight through things,” he said. “It was painful, but not too bad that I had to stop. Even though I didn’t bowl that many overs, I could still bowl some that the other boys didn’t have to. That’s why I was making sure I didn’t dive too much, because then it could break properly. So I was trying to stay on my knees as much as possible.”

Overton puts his recklessly bravery down to a South-West upbringing and a healthy rivalry with twin brother Jamie. “It was the background at Somerset,” he says. “We’re fighters down there, so that’s the way we play our cricket. Growing up as a kid with Jamie hitting me. It was ‘get on with it’, and you don’t show too much pain.”

It is why, all things considered, Overton is probably not the best person to pronounce on his own fitness to play at Melbourne. “We haven’t ruled him out yet, because he hasn’t ruled himself out,” coach Trevor Bayliss said. “I’m sure he’ll be up to play. For a young bloke, he’s definitely got some fire in the belly.”

Overton admits the decision may ultimately be out of his hands. “Sometimes you have to be reined in a little bit,” he says. “At the minute, there’s quite a lot of swelling in it. We’ll wait and see, but I hope three or four days will help. The draw of playing in that game will be absolutely massive, but you’ve got to be realistic.” THE INDEPENDENT