Smith defies England as Aussies fight back
a rescue mission to revive Australia’s fortunes after a top-order batting collapse in the Ashes Test against England in Brisbane on Friday.
Home hopes rested on Smith to mount a fighting rearguard after the loss of four wickets in a faltering chase after England’s first innings of 302 at the Gabba.
At the close on the second day, the Australians were 165 for four and trailing by 137 runs, with Smith unbeaten on 64 and Shaun Marsh not out 44.
It left the match intriguingly poised once again after England ended day one in a similar position before collapsing before lunch on Friday. Smith was then thrust into another high pressure situation after Australia suffered a now-familiar malfunction at the top of the order.
England had done their homework, encircling Smith with fielders and trying to frustrate the fidgety Australian captain into playing a rash shot. But Smith, Test Cricket’s top-rated batsman, stepped up to the challenge with a defiant knock off 148 balls.
Marsh, 34, recalled for an eighth time to the Test team, provided stout support to his skipper off 122 balls to share in an unbroken 89-run stand.
The tourists had the Australians D Malan c Marsh b Starc
M Ali lbw b Lyon
J Bairstow c Paine b Cummins C Woakes b Lyon
S Broad c Handscomb b Hazlewood J Ball c Warner b Starc
J Anderson not out 56 38 9 0 20 14 5 302 Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Cook), 2-127 (Stoneman), 3-145 (Vince), 4-163 (Root, 5-246 (Malan), 6-249 (Ali), 7-250 (Woakes), 8-270 (Bairstow), 9-286 (Ball), 10-302 (Broad)
Bowling: Starc 28-4-77-3 (1nb 1w), Hazlewood 22.4-6-57-1, Cummins 30-885-3, Lyon 36-12-78-2 D Warner c Malan b Ball C Bancroft c Bairstow b Broad U. Khawaja lbw b Ali
S. Smith not out
P. Handscomb lbw b Anderson S. Marsh not out 26 5 11 64 14 44 165 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Bancroft), 2-30 (Khawaja), 3-59 (Warner), 4-76 (Handscomb)
Bowling: Anderson 15-4-26-1, Broad 105-18-1, Ali 19-6-50-1, Woakes 8-1-31-0, Ball 8-1-35-1 (1nb), Root 2-0-5-0. on the ropes with three batsmen out in the middle session, including the prized scalp of David Warner.
Warner attempted to pull newcomer Jake Ball through the leg-side only to find Dawid Malan at short mid-wicket for 26 off 43 balls.
That left the Australians on a shaky 59 for three after the dismissals of debutant opener Cameron Bancroft and the misfiring Usman Khawaja.