Section:GDN 1N PaGe:52 Edition Date:190906 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 5/9/2019 20:42 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Friday 6 September 2019
(^52) Sport
Cricket Fourth Specsavers Ashes Test
Day two as
it happened
How the day’s play unfolded with
Tim de Lisle, Adam Collins and
Jonathan Howcroft on the OBO,
at theguardian.com/sport
50th over Australia 186-4
(Smith 72, Wad 3)
“Seems to me one of the things
that makes batsmen great is that
they eliminate certain aspects of
their game,” writes Peter Salmon.
“Ricky Ponting () eliminated the
cut shot, Steve Waugh
the hook. Smith
has simply taken
this to its logical
conclusion and
eliminated getting
out.” Astonishing no
one thought of it before.
Steve Smith raises his 26th ton!
He’s simply unbelievable. Smith
reaches three fi gures yet again
against England. This is his 11th
Ashes century, all brought up
since the fi nal Test in 2013. We’ve
seen plenty of dominant players
in the modern game, but nothing
quite like this.
Leach picks up Smith ... but
he’s overstepped!
Unbelievable scenes. A beautiful
delivery, the spinner celebrates
Smith edging to slip. But when the
third umpire is asked to check for
the no-ball, he is shown to be over
the line. Dear me.
87th over Australia 318-5
(Smith 144, Paine 36)
When Tim Paine is making runs,
you know England are in trouble.
95th over Australia 342-5
(Smith 155, Paine 49)
On Twitter, James Doleman
asks: “Can England prorogue
the Ashes?”
98th over Australia 354-5
(Smith 166, Paine 50)
Tim Paine, after spending about
a week on 49, pushes a single to
reach an important 50. The cricket
gods are doing a lot of levelling
here: Paine has been good, Stokes
awful, Archer middling, Leach the
unlikely villain.
114th over Australia 407-7
(Smith 199, Starc 6)
Smith opens the face to glide
another single, and again mutters
about not reaching 200. He’s such a
complete batsman, he even sledges
himself. “Which ends fi rst?”
asks Hubert O’Hearn. “Smith’s
innings or Boris’s premiership?”
117th over WICKET! Australia
4 38-8 (Smith c Denly b Root 211 )
At last! Smith tries a reverse-sweep
and hits it straight to Joe Denly at
backward point. That’s a comical
end to an epic innings. And Root
gets his man, about 200 runs later
than he would have liked.
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Only Don Bradman has scored more Test
tons against England than Steve Smith
100 s Innings
Don Bradman () 19^63
Steve Smith 11 45
Gary Sobers 10 61
Steve Waugh 10 73
Greg Chappell 9 65
Hitting the heights
Mesmeric Smith turns
screw on ailing England
It is that man again. Currently he aver-
ages 147.25 in the series and the paral-
lels with Bradman are no longer deliv-
ered with a wry grin. Steve Smith has
done it again. He is never beautiful but
he is brilliant and forever mesmeris-
ing, especially during his increasingly
eccentric post-delivery antics. Then
he resembles one of the great mime
artists as he demonstrates – very occa-
sionally – how he has just received an
excellent delivery that has beaten his
outside edge or – more frequently –
how he might have clipped that ball a
little squarer to score four runs rather
than one.
He gives the spectator a visual run-
ning commentary of what is buzzing
through his head; he gives English
bowlers ever more gruesome night-
mares and his Australian teammates
a comfort blanket so big that the entire
team could be wrapped inside it. Aus-
tralia have lost one Test in this series
and Smith did not play in it. Here at
Old Traff ord he was back; within a
few overs on Wednesday he dispelled
the notion that he was suff ering any
adverse eff ects from concussion. He
picked up his bat and played as if he
was still at Edgbaston.
By yesterday afternoon Smith had
delivered a double century, the third
in his Test career, all of which have
been against England. It may not be a
match-winning innings, though there
is a strong likelihood of it. It certainly
ensures that Australia will not lose this
contest. It was not a fl awless knock.
Unusually he needed some assistance
from his opponents. On 65 he off ered a
tough return catch to Jofra Archer from
a low full-toss; on 118 he was caught at
slip by Ben Stokes off Jack Leach but
then came the realisation that the left-
armer had overstepped.
Leach had deceived Smith with a
slower delivery but often the planting
of the front foot is delayed when pro-
pelling such a ball. As a consequence
the foot creeps forward. This was a
crushing blow to England having any
hope of victory here. Now Joe Root and
his team would settle for a draw with
as much jubilation as the Aus tralians
displayed here in 2005.
Regular Smith watchers know the
form: the extravagant footwork which
takes him towards cover-point, the
seemingly risk-free fl icks through the
leg side, the occasional fi rm-footed
cover drive, the unerring dispatch of
wayward deliveries and the constant
impression that the pitch is fi ve yards
longer when he is on strike. If some-
how Australia fail to retain the Ashes,
a decreasing possibility , then Smith
will be as mystifi ed to be on the los-
ing side as Shane Warne with his 40
wickets in 2005.
Despite the drop of Smith by
Archer, which was little more than a
half -chance, there was early encour-
agement for England. Stuart Broad
Vic Marks
Old Traff ord
Third Ashes double-century
of career puts Australia in
command of Test and series
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