«SMITH SMASHES SECOND TON TO TURN HEAT ON ENGLAND
Hosts left needing a miracle as Aussies in control on day four
England have been challenged to recapture the selfbelief of their World Cup win as they try to save the first ashes Test following another superb century from Steve Smith.
The former australian captain made 142 to go with his firstinnings 144 as the tourists set England an unlikely 398.
at stumps on the fourth evening, they had reached 13 for none — with assistant coach graham Thorpe calling for a show of strength to bat for 90 overs on the final day.
‘We’ve got the character,’ he said. ‘The challenge is ahead of our guys to soak it up for one more day. They have to go out there and use all the skill they have.
‘It’s a fifth-day pitch and australia have got a very good spinner. But we have to have the belief we can do it.’
asked if England could draw on their experience at the World Cup, where they came through four must-win games to lift their first 50-over trophy, Thorpe replied: ‘a lot of the guys have gained confidence from that, no doubt. It’s a different form of the game, but there is a belief they can deal with different situations.’
Only one of England’s last 33 home Tests has finished in a draw, and Smith was not in the mood for that sequence to end after becoming only the fifth australian to score two centuries in an ashes Test.
‘It was a dream comeback,’ he said. ‘To be able to score two hundreds in the first ashes Test — that’s something I’ve never done in any form of cricket.
‘Incredibly special to put us in the position we are now going into day five.
‘There’s quite a lot of rough that hopefully gazza (nathan lyon) can exploit.
‘For the quicks, the ball’s been getting soft pretty quickly, so it’s about attacking the stumps as much as we can, because day-five wickets have some tricks in them, and it goes up and down a bit.’
In both australian innings, England needed a big shot from Smith to get his wicket. In the first, he had a slog with the no11 at the other end.
In the second, he threw his bat at a slightly wider one from Chris
Woakes as australia chased quick runs before the declaration.
Had he broken the spirits of the England bowlers?
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I guess that is a question for them.
‘Fortunately I was able to keep them out there for as long as I could.’
While the extraordinary Smith has been comfortably the difference between these sides, England’s bowling yesterday hardly helped.
any plan to capitalise on green pitches has gone up in a puff of dust from an Edgbaston surface that instead has been tailor-made for spin.
It has hardly helped that England have been a bowler down since Jimmy anderson limped off on the first morning, while Woakes was mysteriously restricted to just seven overs yesterday as the australians piled on the misery — and the runs.
But Moeen ali simply could not deliver. He had made a reasonable enough start on Saturday night by sending back Cameron Bancroft but from the moment Moeen bowled a looping moon ‘no ball’ over Smith’s head in his first over yesterday it was clear this would not be his day.
By the time he finally produced a pearler to bowl Tim Paine, he had disappeared for more than 100 runs at close to five an over and australia were perfectly positioned to push today for their first victory at England’s favourite ground since 2001.
The worst indictment of Moeen’s display is that he was outbowled by Joe Root — and even Joe denly when the captain turned, in desperation, to the Kent man’s leg-breaks.
It would, of course, be a completely different story if it were not for the quite remarkable comeback of comfortably still the best batsman in the world in Smith — in his first Test since his own world fell apart in Cape Town 16 months ago.
australia had started the day only 34 runs ahead and with the balance still slightly in England’s favour but by the end of day four, Root’s side had been completely batted out of it and left with no greater idea how to get Smith out than they had when last these sides met.
Then Smith scored 687 runs in the series and he is already up to 286 in this one after another superb display of his very individual style had driven England to distraction and had done as much as humanly possible to quieten the most raucous crowd in English cricket.
Smith was almost flawless. He did flick Ben Stokes just wide of leg gully on 74 and would have been run out on 133 had Root got behind the stumps to collect denly’s exceptional throw from the deep. Otherwise there was not a sniff of a chance.
It says just about everything for the redemption of Smith that even the bulk of this crowd, who have been loudly reminding the disgraced former captain of his balltampering past throughout this
Test, rose to him when he again reached three figures.
And it says everything about Smith’s hunger for runs that he looked devastated to be dismissed wafting at a wide one from Woakes for ‘just’ 142 before he acknowledged the entire ground.
This time Smith, who had, remember, rescued Australia from the depths of 122 for eight in the first innings, had the support firstly of Travis Head and then spectacularly in a stand of 126 from Australia’s keeper-turnedspecialist batsman in Matthew Wade.
Wade rushed along to his third Test century and hit more boundaries than Smith, surviving the latest howler from umpire Joel Wilson, who wrongly and woefully adjudged him lbw to Stuart Broad with the new ball, before becoming a third victim for Ben Stokes.
James Pattinson and Pat Cummins swung productively until Paine handed England a surely hypothetical 398 to win but surprisingly only seven overs to survive on day four.
It was a display of conservatism from Paine that helped England get through without loss but with Lyon already gaining turn and bounce, they have a mighty task today to come through this first Test unscathed.
Whatever happens they will have much to ponder before these teams reconvene at Lord’s in ten days’ time. Not least Moeen’s position.