England resort to sleight of hand to try and lay a glove on Steve Smith in Ashes
“He got me there, didn’t he?” said Steve Smith after England’s Jonny Bairstow faked a run out and made him hit the dirt. It was a rare, and hollow, win over the gun batsman. Catch up on all last night’s Ashes action here.
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England is on top and Australia’s batting line-up is firmly in the spotlight after a shambolic batting display left the hosts in a dominant position after day two of the Oval Test.
The hosts finished the day 0-9 and holding a 78-run lead having bowled Australia out for 225 in a pitiful batting display.
Steve Smith, once again, held the Australian batting together with a solo performance but with the star No. 4 dismissed for 80 - his lowest score of the series - England seized the advantage.
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Twin failures by Australia’s openers set the tone for a poor day for Australia, which finished with Marcus Harris dropping a sitter.
Here’s everything you missed overnight.
CUMMINS ENDS ENGLISH RESISTANCE
England’s tail continued to wag early on day two, with Jos Buttler and Jack Leach adding 68 runs for the ninth wicket before Pat Cummins intervened.
Cummins has been the best bowler of the series and has at times bowled without luck – but he grabbed a slice on Friday, when he had Buttler’s wicket via an inside edge onto the pads and then into the stumps.
It ensured Cummins finished with 3-84.
MARSH’S MAIDEN FIVE-FOR
It was rather fitting that the final wicket to fall, that of Leach, went to the maligned Mitchell Marsh to hand the all-rounder a maiden Test five-wicket haul.
Leach, too, chopped on – ending his 80-minute stay at the crease – and given Marsh a well-deserved fifth wicket.
WARNER’S NIGHTMARE CONTINUES
It all seemed set up for David Warner – a bright, sunny London day and a flat Oval wicket ripe for run scoring.
But it wasn’t to bed, and Warner’s hellish tour added another single figure score: his eighth of the series, giving him an unwanted record. No other opener in history has had more than seven single figure scores.
Warner departed for five after a review found he’d nicked off against Jofra Archer. Although …
BUT WAS HE ROBBED?
There seemed to be a gap between bat and ball at the moment UltraEdge found a noise spike, which was used as confirmation of an edge to overturn the decision.
When you’re down on luck these things seem to go against you, and former England captain Michael Vaughan certainly felt Warner had been unlucky.
“I honestly don’t think he’s hit it - I don’t think technology has been at its best in this series,” Vaughan said.
Warner, according to Test great Ricky Ponting, owned up later in the day to having feathered an edge – vindicating the technology and shutting down the social media conspiracy theorists.
HARRIS STOCKS PLUMMET
Marcus Harris quickly followed his opening partner back to the pavilion, out to a good nut by Jofra Archer and a fine low catch to Ben Stokes at second slip for three.
But it was another failure and adds to the mounting evidence that, while a fine Sheffield Shield player, he’s still a long way from cracking the code when it comes to Test cricket.
With 49 runs from five innings, now averaging 9.8 – a skerrick above Warner’s 9.33 and less than the 11 of Cameron Bancroft, the man he replaced in the opening role.
SCARY JOFRA RETURNS
After being down on pace, wickets and general performance at Old Trafford, we saw a return of ‘Scary Jofra’ at the Oval.
Archer ripped through the Australian openers in quick time and then revived his bouncer barrage – so effective at Lord’s – to have Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith hopping about the crease.
For the first time since his hostile Lord’s spell, Archer looked genuinely fearsome and Labuschagne needed some attention after wearing a blow to the arm.
Archer eventually got his man, for 48, when he had Labuschagne trapped LBW – and ultimately finished the day with 6-62 after running through Australia’s lower order.
SMITH’S LATEST RECORD
You might not believe it. But Steve Smith continues to break records.
He’s owned the record for most consecutive Ashes half-centuries since mid-way through this series, but on Friday he took over another … he’s now hit the most consecutive half-centuries against ANY opposition.
When he passed 50 with a powerful six off Jack Leach, it was his tenth in a row against England – taking him past the nine Inzamam-ul-Haq had scored … also against England.
FAKE FIELDING!
Steve Smith admits he was caught hook, line and sinker by a piece of Jonny Bairstow trickery - but it could’ve backfired on the England wicketkeeper to the tune of five runs.
Smith was sprinting back to complete a run when he was heading to the wicketkeeper’s end, when an amusing bit of deception from Bairstow left the Australian with a red face and dirty clothes.
With Smith well short of his crease Bairstow faked a throw coming to his end, prompting Smith - who sensed the danger - to dive for his ground and send a giant puff of dust into the air as he crashed to the turf.
“He got me there, didn’t he? He dirtied my clothes. He didn’t say thing, I don’t think (but) he got me,” Smith said.
“I didn’t know where the ball was, bloody thing, he faked it.”
But the prank move could’ve come back to bite England, with recently introduced rules outlawing fake fielding or, more specifically, ‘the deliberate distraction or deception of a batsman’.
Had the umpires deemed it that Smith had been deliberately deceived, England would’ve been dealt a five-run penalty.
AND … HE’S OUT!
His batting exploits have been so extraordinary that Steve Smith being dismissed for 80 was surprising as it could be considered a failure.
It was his lowest score for the series, and came the first ball after the drinks break – an innocuous trundle from Chris Woakes which trapped the best since Bradman dead in front of the stumps.
MORE MIND-BLOWING SMITH STATS
Despite being knocked over for his lowest score this series, Smith’s average still climbed closer to Bradman’s – and his series stats are just as impressive.
He has 751 runs for the series, which is more than the combined total of the next two most accomplished batsmen – England pair Ben Stokes (374) and Rory Burns (370).
It’s also better than the combined total of the 17 lowest scorers of these Ashes.
Steve #Smith has made more runs in his six innings this series than Warner + Pattinson + Cummins + Starc + Lyon + Siddle + Harris + Broad + Archer + Leach + Bancroft + Overton + Curran + Marsh + Hazlewood + Anderson + Moeen have made in their combined 69 knocks.#Ashes
— Joshua Kay (@js_kay) September 13, 2019
MARNUS MARNUS MARNUS
Outside of Smith, Australia has had just one reliable batsman this series: Marnus Labuschagne.
And the newly installed No. 3 was impressive once again after arriving at the crease in just the second over. At this stage, he may as well be opening.
Labuschagne rode his luck, with edges through gully picking up runs, as he and Smith rebuilt the Australian innings – but it ran out when he was trapped LBW to Archer for 48.
EDGBASTON BUDDIES REUNITE
After failures from their openers and middle order, Australia needed a miracle to reel in England’s first-innings total.
And they nearly got it in the form of another Steve Smith-Peter Siddle partnership, with the pair reviving their Edgbaston rearguard exploits.
At Edgbaston Smith and Siddle added 88 on day one of the series, a partnership which saved Australia from disaster. On Friday they added 21 and looked well set to frustrate England before Smith was removed.
CUMMINS BATTING FALLS APART
He’ll certainly be forgiven for it, given his astonishing form with the ball, but Pat Cummins has had a less than ideal Ashes with the bat.
Considering his rise as a batsman of some note, to the point where he was almost recognised as a defacto all-rounder.
Cummins was knocked over for a golden duck by Sam Curran, taking his tally of single-figure dismissals this series to four – as well as one not out at Lord’s – and a total of 62 runs at 10.33.
LYON JOINS ELITE COMPANY
Nathan Lyon chipped in with 25 valuable runs late in the day, and in doing so joined an elite group of run scoring wicket-takers.
Along the way he passed 1000 Test runs and became just the 10th Australian to hit the 1000-run/300 wicket club.
He joins the likes of Shane Warne, Richie Benaud and Brett Lee in doing so – with international luminaries Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Wasim Akram and Jacques Kallis among the 41 Test players to reach the mark.
AUSSIES CRUELLED BY POOR FIELDING
In the first innings it was an ugly spill by Peter Siddle which gave Joe Root the first of his three lives, and set the tone for a sloppy fielding display.
On Friday, fellow Victorian Marcus Harris dropped a dolly at fourth slip to let Joe Denly off the hook in fading light.
It piled more pressure on the young opener, who has had an awful series with the bat and in the field.
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LAST-BALL DRAMA
Despite seeing a chance dropped off his bowling in the last over, Josh Hazlewood wasn’t deterred and honed in on Rory Burns’ leg stump with the last ball of the day.
And he was nearly rewarded.
Umpire Marais Erasmus threw the finger up but after a Burns review, the decision was overturned with the ball having pitched outside leg – ensuring it was England’s day on every front.
Originally published as England resort to sleight of hand to try and lay a glove on Steve Smith in Ashes