(^) Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019
86 THE ASHES FOURTH TEST
THE ASHES
PAUL
NEWMAN
Cricket Correspondent
at Old Trafford
brought them crashing down
to earth while Australia have
reasserted themselves as Ashes
winners in waiting. Momentum?
Bunkum.
It has not just been that the
extraordinary Smith has returned
to carry on his one-man domina-
tion of this series with his third
double century against England
yesterday to add to his twin centu-
ries in the first Test at Edgbaston.
He even made 92 at Lord’s, for
goodness sake, despite Jofra
Archer knocking him out.
Far more disturbingly for Eng-
land, they seemed to be handing
the Ashes on a plate to Australia
with a quite shocking display in
the field that culminated in a
middle session of such woeful
cricket that it should give Joe
Root sleepless nights.
Not only did Leach, such a hero
at Headingley for his supporting
role to Stokes, inexplicably hand a
second chance to the immovable
Smith on 118 when he somehow
bowled a no-ball off a run up that
is more of a walk up.
But England also eased the pres-
sure on Australia captain Tim
Paine by quite horribly dropping
him twice, Jason Roy on nine and
substitute fielder Sam Curran on
49, during that horror session
when they conceded 124 runs and
failed to take a single wicket.
All the while England seemed
rudderless, with questions being
raised over the captaincy of Root
like never before, not least when
his order from slip for Archer to go
round the wicket to Paine was met
with surprised reluctance.
Root has had an easy ride over
what can be uninspiring leader-
ship, certainly in comparison to
the opprobrium that was hurled at
times at Sir Alastair Cook, because
he is such a good batsman and
man and because there really are
no alternatives.
But days like this make you won-
der whether he is making any
progress as captain and whether
England will have to reassess his
position if he goes on here and at
the Oval to become a losing Ashes
captain both away and at home.
That should take nothing away
from Smith even if at times yester-
day in making 211 before getting
himself out to a reverse sweep off
Root he actually looked human
rather than a machine that just
churns out runs, particularly
against England.
England had allowed Smith to
settle on his return from concus-
sion on a grim first day of this
fourth Specsavers Test when Root
failed to go at him and test his
nerve. But they bowled better, at
least before the wheels started to
come off after lunch.
Smith could have gone on 65 had
Archer held on to a tough return
catch and then on 108 he hit Leach
straight up in the air only for the
ball to land safely between Roy
running back and Craig Overton
rushing in from the boundary.
Root felt compelled to give his
side an overdue volley after Leach’s
overstepping aberration but it
did little good as Smith moved
relentlessly on to yet another
landmark, reaching 200 with a
nudge off his hips that England
allowed him to play all too often.
By then Paine had gone to the
first ball after tea from Overton,
who mixed the odd beauty with
far too many innocuous straight
balls, and Leach added Pat Cum-
mins to his earlier wicket of an
onrushing Matthew Wade.
But even the departure of Smith
as the eighth Australian to fall did
not bring an end to Root’s misery
as Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon
swung merrily and England
resembled a village side before
Paine finally called his team in on
497 for eight.
How humbling this was for
England. Stokes, the miracle man,
had to go off for treatment on a
sore right shoulder with one ball
remaining of his 11 mainly inaccu-
rate overs.
Archer, meanwhile, was spared
the indignity of going for more
than a hundred in 27 wicketless
and rarely threatening overs only
by the timing of Paine’s
declaration.
Only Stuart Broad, who took his
17th wicket of another outstand-
ing Ashes, 12 of them left-handers,
when he trapped Travis Head
could be satisfied with his work
and how well he has responded to
the suggestion he might be the
odd man out in this series.
It seems laughable now that
England could have even consid-
ered dropping Broad and he is the
perfect example of a senior player
always prepared to work on his
game and learn new tricks to
maintain his hunger and desire
to succeed.
And their problems were com-
pounded when Joe Denly,
‘promoted’ to open, fell to an
excellent short leg catch by Wade
at the second attempt off
Cummins as England began their
desperate fight for survival.
They will resume today on 23 for
one after Rory Burns and night-
watchman Overton clung on to
the close but the best England can
hope for now is to escape from Old
Trafford with a draw and set up an
Oval shoot-out for the Ashes.
To do that they must hope for
more Manchester rain — and half
a day’s worth is forecast for today
— and far more application than
they have long been able
to muster.
More than anything they need to
show the spirit and determination
of the second innings at Heading-
ley rather than the horror show of
the first.
The stakes really are high now
for the rest of this Test — and
beyond.
From Back Page
500
Smith is the first person in
history to score 500 runs in
three consecutive Ashes series.
1
Smith is the leading run scorer in
Test cricket in 2019, despite the
fact that due to his ban he didn’t play
until August!
3
All three of Smith’s highest Test
scores have come against
England.
23
Smith has batted for 23 hours
and 59 minutes in this Ashes
series — more time than a flight
from London to his hometown of
Sydney takes!
7
Smith’s double century was just
the seventh in Old Trafford’s
135-year Test history. It was the first
double ton at the ground by an
opposition player since South
Africa’s Gary Kirsten hit 210 in 1998.
BRILLIANT SMITH CONTINUES TO REWRITE ASHES HISTORY
STEVE SMITH is now into the top 10 Ashes runs
scorers of all-time. His 211 took him past eight
players and up to 10th — knocking Geoffrey
Boycott out of the top 10 in the process!
Runs Ave
1 Don Bradman (Aus 1928-48) 5,028 89.78
2 Jack Hobbs (Eng 1908-30) 3,636 54.26
3 Allan Border (Aus 1978-93) 3,222 55.55
4 Steve Waugh (Aus 1986-2003) 3,173 58.75
5 David Gower (Eng 1978-1991) 3,037 46.01
6 Wally Hammond (Eng 1928-47) 2,852 51.85
7 Herbert Sutcliffe (Eng 1924-34) 2,741 66.85
8 Clem Hill (Aus 1896-1912) 2,660 35.46
9 John Edrich (Eng 1964-75) 2,644 48.96
10 Steve Smith (Aus 2010-19) 2,615 65.37
PS
These are the players Smith went past in
this innings: Neil Harvey, Len Hutton, Colin
Cowdrey, Graham Gooch, Ricky Ponting, Alastair
Cook, Mark Taylor, Geoffrey Boycott.
@Paul_NewmanDM
BUMBLE
AT THE TEST
By DAVID LLOYD
OFF PACE AND OFF TARGET
ENGLAND were off the pace
yesterday. And pace is the
operative word. Body language
is so important and they didn’t
look right. England’s attack can
be samey but Jofra Archer has
cranked it up this summer. But
not in this game. Sometimes
you have to forget the cold
and seize the moment...
DISASTER DAY FOR ENGLAND
BEN STOKES (right) going off with a
sore shoulder just summed up
England’s woes. Catches went down
and don’t even get me going on the
left-arm spinner’s no-ball. Just don’t! I
think we should leave the last word
with Beefy. ‘A step and fetch it
(spinner) bowling a no-ball?’ said the
great man in our box. ‘He just walks
up. The world’s gone mad.’
BREXIT BEER ANYONE?
WITH so much confusion
and indecision over Brexit
I’ve decided to go into the
legal profession and I’ve
been called to the bar —
the Fringe Bar, The Knott
Bar and Akbar’s. Two
more lamb bhunas here,
your honour. I rest my
case. Hic!
WILL JEANES
VILLAGE
IDIOTS
O Flat, sloppy and shambolic in
the field as Smith piles on pain
O Questions must be asked
of Root’s uninspiring captaincy
O England seem determined to
hand Ashes on plate to Aussies
brent
(Brent)
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