Ashes 2019: Aussies in trouble as English lead grows
He has top scored in every innings in the four Tests he has played but Steve Smith, who took one of the great Ashes catches overnight, will have to produce something special one final time to help Australia secure an improbable victory over England in the fifth Test at the Oval.
Steve Smith might need to break a 90-year-old batting record for Australia to raise the Ashes urn as last Test winners after an England batting blitz put them in the box seat to finish the series on a high.
Australia got to The Oval with the Ashes secured, but a determination to win the match, and the series, breaking a drought that stretched all the way back to 2001.
Instead the home side put together the biggest single scoring day of all five Tests, adding 304 runs, for the loss of eight wickets, to effectively bat Australia out of the contest.
England has a 382-run lead, with two more wickets in hand, and the best part of two days to bowl out an Australian line-up that was skittled for 225 on day two.
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Opener Marcus Harris will also be hampered after having seven stitches in his finger to repair split webbing, the result of dropping Joe Denly at the end of day two.
It was dropped catches and an inability to take advantage of the decision review system which compounded Australia’s problems on a day dominated by England’s aggressive batting.
Denly made 94, after Harris dropped him on zero, to lead the charge as England’s batsmen smashed 40 boundaries against an Australian attack captain Tim Paine said was trying, but worn down by five-straight days of work.
Ben Stokes was also dropped on seven, after calling Australian opener David Warner a “pr*ck” during a feisty exchange as the teams went to lunch, following Matthew Wade being cautioned for comments he made to England captain Joe Root.
Paine dismissed the chat as just “grown men talking”, adamant the entire series had been played in good spirit.
The Aussie voice faded anyway faded as Stokes made 67 and pounded his team in to a position Paine said would be hard to come back from.
But the Australian skipper also said his team would not go down without a fight.
“Batting is going to be all about the skill, our ability to bat for a long time … we have a hell of a long time to chase them down,” Paine said.
“We've spoken about the fact we desperately want to win this Test match and finish this series as outright winners.
“When the game is in the position it was in, a lot of teams would throw in the towel. To see Steve Smith take a hanger, Marnus Labuschagne run off the rope and take a great catch, to see our bowlers still steaming in, I think it's a great sign.”
Smith’s catching, including a stunning dive to dismiss Chris Woakes later in the day, and three wickets from Nathan Lyon were rare highlights for Australia.
With a target close to 400 likely when England resumes on day four, Smith could need to produce a miracle of his own to give his team any chance of winning.
The batting genius has already racked up 751 runs in his six innings this series, top-scoring for his team every time he has gone out to bat.
He needs another 224 to go past the biggest ever-single series haul by a batsman, the 974 scored by Sir Donald Bradman in the 1930 Ashes.
Smith has taken six catches in the game, and top-scored for Australia with 80 in the first innings despite feeling the effects of the flu.
A clear head could be a path to more runs and Paine said the man of the series could have one more big effort left.
“Cricketers like him, Stokes is the same. They're in the contest and in the game all the time,” Paine said.
“Whether they're in slip, point, with the ball or with the bat. That's what makes great cricketers great cricketers.”
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Originally published as Ashes 2019: Aussies in trouble as English lead grows