The remarkable Steve Smith is nothing short of a phenomenon

Steve Smith in action against England on day two of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Picture: Getty Images

It was shortly before lunch, Old Trafford and England’s bowlers totally becalmed, when Steve Smith worked a ball into the leg side, scampered a couple of runs to bring up another Ashes hundred and soaked in the adulation of the crowd.

There were no histrionics of the type that had accompanied his opening marker of the 2017-18 Ashes series in Brisbane, when he pumped his fist against his chest repeatedly and contorted his features in an angry grimace. He looked deeply motivated then but didn’t, at that point, look like someone enjoying his success.

Now, he simply removed his helmet, showing the thin blue hairband underneath, and raised his bat calmly to the dressing room. There was a beatific smile on his face, one of a man returned to play, to his favourite pastime and determined to enjoy these moments in the sun and a run of form matched by only a handful of batsmen in the history of the game. Although he has given all his contemporaries a significant head start, the remarkable Mr Smith now has more Test runs than anyone else this calendar year — in only four innings in three matches. He didn’t start playing until August.

Day two at Old Trafford was Smith’s day again, just as this has been Smith’s Test so far, as Edgbaston was. He fell twice to England’s bowlers in the 140s there, but breezed through that passage here. He passed 150 shortly after 3.30pm; brought up his third double hundred against England at 5.15pm and wasn’t dismissed until deep into the final session when, looking to reverse-sweep Joe Root, he was finally caught at backward point, eighth man out. Old Trafford rose to him because while the crowd may not have appreciated watching a man help to clamp Australia’s fingers more firmly around the Ashes urn, they knew they were watching a cricketing phenomenon.

For a significant chunk of the day he was accompanied by Tim Paine, who established a foothold of his own for the first time in this series, so that the wobbles of the opening 40 minutes of the game became a distant memory. England missed their opportunity through lacklustre bowling then and missed further opportunities through shoddy fielding and general sloppiness now.

Having suffered two gruelling and ultimately soul-destroying days in largely inhospitable conditions, they will have to raise themselves and bat better than they have bowled and fielded to stay in the match and the series.

After the declaration, Australia had enough time for 10 overs in the chilly evening sunshine, enough time to nip out one of England’s openers, Joe Denly, who looked ill at ease in his new role. Mitchell Starc bowled two fast but wayward overs, and it was when he was replaced by Pat Cummins that Denly jabbed a ball to short leg, off the inside-edge and thigh pad, where Matthew Wade took a superb reflex catch at the second attempt. Craig Overton, promoted — if that is the right word — to nightwatchman duties ahead of Jack Leach, survived the remaining overs with Rory Burns.

England have a long haul ahead of them. For an hour before lunch, nothing had looked more routine, more inevitable than Smith’s latest hundred, his 11th, remarkably, in his 26th Ashes Test, and his sixth in his past dozen innings against England.

Either side of that, though, at the start of the day, and in the first hour after lunch, the mechanics of his game were not quite in sync, for once, the gears grinding rather than smooth, and in need of some restorative oil. England duly supplied it. There was, for example, the dropped return catch by Jofra Archer when Smith had made 65. It was an odd piece of cricket, a low full toss hit firmly back towards an athlete who has produced, in his short career, a show reel of spectacular return catches. Archer, though, could only get his fingertips to this offering and watched anxiously as it ran away to the boundary. It was early in the day, the second over, but it already felt like a significant moment.

Travis Head went quickly, the way of so many Australian left-handers in this series, which is to say to Stuart Broad and from round the wicket, and when Wade hoisted Leach high to mid-on, England sensed another chance to limit Australia. The score was 5-224 at this point, with Paine, short of runs, now at the crease.

The next wicket did not fall until the first ball after tea, by which time Paine had made his first half-century of the series, Smith was closing in on his double hundred, and Australia were out of sight.

The afternoon session was a horrible one. First came a spill at second slip by Jason Roy when Paine had made nine — a straightforward catch, this, off Broad. Then, more gallingly, five overs later and six overs before the second new ball was due, England thought they had Smith when, on 118, he aimed a drive off Leach and edged to slip. Ben Stokes, the catcher, threw the ball into the turf, relieved, finally, to see the back of Smith, who walked away regretfully practising the shot that he should have played. Then, wouldn’t you know it, replays showed that Leach had overstepped the front line and Smith had his second reprieve of the day.

The team had gathered around for what they thought would be a celebration, but instead were read the riot act by their captain. Not that things improved. Sam Curran, on as substitute for Leach, who was suffering from finger soreness, dropped Paine on 49 at mid-on, tumbling forward to try and scoop up a mistimed pull shot.

Stokes, who only bowled 17 balls in the day, left the field with shoulder soreness, and any remaining spirit seemed to leave with him. Australia ran away with the session scoring 124 runs in 32 overs . The game advanced quickly after the break, once Paine and Cummins had edged to slip. Starc showed his eagerness to make a mark on the series with a quickfire half-century, at one point hitting Broad for four consecutive boundaries, in response to which Archer was recalled to the attack for the first time since Smith’s dismissal. After his initial headline-grabbing entrance into Test cricket, Archer has been given a reminder of its harsh realities for bowlers here, shuffling through 27 wicketless overs .

Before this game, and as observers hyped up the rematch between Smith and Archer, the Australian batsman was intent on reminding observers of one salient fact. For all the talk of Archer’s pace and fire, and the bouncer that had felled him at Lord’s and put him out of the third Test, Smith wanted to remind everyone that “he (Archer) hasn’t actually got me out, yet”.

It was a brave thing to say in some ways, as most batsmen are wary of tempting fate, but Smith has an unshakeable belief in his own ability and over two days here, he has reminded everyone of it again. What a player he is.

THE TIMES