Ashes 2019: Steve Smith hits brilliant double century as Australia take control of fourth Test

Smith hit the third double-ton of his career, with both of the previous two having come against England
AP
Will Macpherson5 September 2019

It was as if he had never been away. But we already knew that a spell out of the side does not affect Steve Smith’s ravenous appetite runs. This time it was a double century, and a quote brilliant, that has put Australia in total control of the Fourth Ashes Test.

Smith has the firmest grip on England. England were fine in the morning, picking up the fairly facile wickets of Travis Head and Matthew Wade, but did a fine job of playing themselves out of the Test match in the afternoon.

These were 150 minutes containing almost all the hallmarks of a horror session on a flat pith: two dropped catches, a wicket off a no-ball (the wicket of an all-time great, no less, by a spinner, of all bowlers), the key player leaving the field feeling sore, the strike bowlers being taken into their fifth spells of the innings, a batsman who could not previously buy a run making his first fifty for almost a year. Perhaps all it was missing was a run out or a really desperate review.

Anyway, Australia racked 124 runs in 30 overs. If it wasn’t just 15 degrees it would have felt just like watching England in Australia and, to top it off, they took a wicket with quite literally the first ball after tea. Overton found a decent nut and finally Tim Paine was gone. Alas there was more pain to come.

Aussie skipper Tim Paine made his first notable batting contribution of the series
AFP/Getty Images

The session started horribly, with Jason Roy putting Paine down at second slip. This was a regulation chance, when Paine had just nine. He added 49 more, but not before another simple drop, this time by the sub Sam Curran at midwicket.

Smith was the beneficiary when Jack Leach, off his little amble in, overstepped. Ben Stokes took a tidy catch at slip, but, for just the eighth time in more than 15,000 first-class deliveries, Leach had been called for a front-foot no-ball. What are the chances off such an inexcusable error? Smith had 118 then, and looked furious. He made it pay, adding a cool 93 more before reverse-sweeping Joe Root straight to backward point when he had clearly resolved to tee off.

It was all this that allowed Mitchell Starc, on his way to a swift fifty, to flog Broad for four straight boundaries, then Nathan Lyon to go hard at Archer in a stand of 61 for the ninth wicket. The tail had not a care in the world. Eventually Paine declared with Australia 497 for eight, shortly after the huge empty party stand had attempted to halt play by chucking paper in the air and trusting the wind to take it towards the players.

It was a classic Smith innings, solving problems and relentlessly accumulating. Even on a pretty docile surface, he should remember this as one of his great innings: coming, as it did, after missing a Test with that blow from Archer at Lord’s and wearing stem guards for the first time. He is a creature of habit, and will have found that awkward.

Do not forget, too, that he came in at 28 for two. By the time he was out, Australia had 410 more runs. He overcame Archer, who looked a totally different bowler in taking none for 97; just three percent of his deliveries were above 90mph. At Lord’s, it was 22%. It would, however, have been a very different day if Archer had been able to cling onto a sharp catch in his follow-through in his first over of the day.

Archer was once again down on pace as England toiled
Getty Images

The Smith shots that will stick in the memory were not for their beauty, but their essential weirdness. His concentration and leaving are without peer and, to be honest, it is hard to see England winning a Test when he plays this series. Certainly Ben Stokes will need even better snookers to get them a win here.

Smith’s numbers are positively Bradmanian. This was his third double-century, with one coming in each of the last three Ashes series. His career average is nearing 65. In this series, he is 11 runs short of 600 in just four innings, the lowest of which was 92.

And so poor Rory Burns and Joe Denly, England’s latest opening pair, were sent out to face 45 minutes of excellent bowling with the shadows lengthening and the Australians chipper. It was a thankless task, and one that Denly – who is not a regular opener, remember – did not have the measure of. He looked like nicking off, but it took a piece of freakish fielding at short leg from Wade to dismiss him. He stopped a full-blooded glance, then grabbed it with his right hand at the second attempt.

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