Paul Hayward Michael Vaughan Scyld Berry

Pace duo have served their country brilliantly but their 100th Test together will not be fondly recalled

CHIEF SPORTS WRITER

Stuart Broad and James Anderson stepping out for the 100th time together in Test cricket was meant to be a ceremonial moment. Naturally, Australia have tried to turn the milestone into a gravestone for their careers. At the end of one of the most draining days in recent Ashes history – a 301-run partnership between Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh, a 146-run Australian lead – Broad waited for his team-mates as they left the field and offered what encouragement he could (which was not much). Smith, unbeaten on 229, was by the boundary being asked about a slight improvement in England’s bowling after tea. “I thought Dawid Malan was the pick of their spinners, to be honest,” the mischief-maker told a TV interviewer.

Ouch! There is zero warmth between Australia’s captain and this England team, who viewed his double century with barely concealed froideur. But Smith was within his rights to twist the knife on England’s bowlers, who are vastly outgunned by Australia’s pace attack and were innocuous on day three. They did manage to remove one Marsh – Shaun, dismissed by Moeen Ali – but the other was immune to England’s unthreatening line and length on a pitch that was hell for proponents of seam and swing.

With every Ashes series, a disposal team lurks for the clearing away of immolated careers. Dramatic licence is often at play when the end is called after a single bad day, or Test. Yet there is no disguising the ominous tameness of Broad’s bowling to Smith and Marsh. The dependable Broad and Anderson combo posted their worst combined figures. Put another way, they have never conceded more runs without taking a single wicket. Their previous worst was one for 234 against South Africa at the Oval in 2012.

As Australia curled a finger round the urn, Broad finished day three with nought for 112 while Anderson was nought for 85. Three other England bowlers went for more than a ton: Craig Overton, Moeen and Chris Woakes. Overton was the best of them, despite his cracked rib, with the earlier wickets of David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Most of the aggression and precision on a day of throbbing English heads came from the 23-year-old Overton, with Anderson, 35, and Broad, 31, enduring salutary stays in Perth.

Broad was already under fire when Australia resumed on 203 for three. On day two, Shane Warne had said: “Broad needs to find another gear. You can’t roll up and bowl that rubbish. He’s better than that. England need a spark. He has to produce something for his team.”

With 761 notches on their pole, Broad and Anderson were one short of the dual pace-bowling record set by Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. But neither came close to unsettling Smith or Marsh. The task of leading England’s defence of their first-innings total of 403 was beyond the two yeomen who have kept the bowling department going all these years. Anderson was grumpily persistent, but not hard to predict; Broad seemed discouraged by the conditions.

According to Simon Hughes, ‘The Analyst’: “Broad has bowled almost 23,000 balls for England. If you factor in his 20-metre run-up, that means he has run 460km for his country, never mind putting at least six times his body weight through his knees and ankles every ball – a total of about 13,000 tonnes, not including deliveries in practice and county matches.”

There will be a swirl of comment now suggesting this is more than mere ageism. Broad last took a wicket in this series on Dec 3, and has continued to look (understandably) spooked by the short ball when batting. In Adelaide, with the ball he returned figures of two for 72 and nought for 26; in Brisbane, three for 49 and nought for 20. With the bat, he scored 20, 2, 3, 8 and 12.

The genesis of Australia’s huge second-innings total was England’s tail-end collapse, when they lost six wickets for 35 runs. The pattern is set. At the crease, England’s bowlers are easily bounced out. With the ball, they cannot match the pace and aggression of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, especially here, where they were 2-0 down and fighting to retain the urn.

Broad and Anderson first played together in 2008 in Wellington. They deserve better than to be bundled off to the knackers’ yard for falling short in hostile conditions and in a secondbest England team. But when Broad’s 100-runs-conceded came up, from two flogs by Marsh, you could feel the shadow creeping closer.