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For the second time in this Ashes series the result of a Test hangs on the blade of Steve Smith, with the Australian skipper cruising to 92no at stumps in Perth yesterday.
In the first Test at Brisbane it was his extraordinary 141no which won Australia the match and you sense that if they’re to take the third Test, or avoid defeat at the least, it will require another Smith special.
With Usman Khawaja (50), Cameron Bancroft (25) and David Warner (22) failing to convert their starts on a fantastic WACA batting track, the heavy labour has once more been left to Smith and Shaun Marsh (7no from 36 balls).
Although England will feel they should have scored more, their first innings total of 403 will still take some equalling for Australia. The tourists will be buoyed by the knowledge the next man in is Mitch Marsh, who has averaged just 17 with the bat in Tests over the past three years.
Standing in their way like a towering gatekeeper, however, is Smith. The ease with which he moved to 92no was truly startling – he scored at a rapid strike rate of 75 without ever taking undue risk.
Bowling has been immensely difficult work on this pitch once the ball was become weathered and, with 18 overs left until the second new ball, Smith and Marsh have a great chance to get themselves set in the first hour today.
Earlier yesterday, Australia’s bowlers flipped the Test on its noggin by going on a tear just when it seemed England were in complete command.
At 4-368, with two centurions at the crease on a road of a pitch, England were perfectly placed to bat Australia out of the match with a total well in excess of 500. Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow had, at that stage, scored 66 from the previous 13 overs.
(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)
They had taken particularly heavy toll on all-rounder Marsh, who returned 0-43 from nine overs for the innings, and looked to be running away with the game.
Everything changed in the space of a single ball from spinner Nathan Lyon, delivered with a tantalising arc which coaxed a unwieldy heave from Malan. The ball lobbed off the leading edge of Malan’s bat to backwards point, where sub fieldsman Peter Handscomb dived full length to complete a brilliant catch.
In stark contrast, the catch which lobbed to Aussie skipper Steve Smith in the slips just minutes later could not have been easier. It was a tame dismissal from Moeen Ali, who prodded at a rising delivery from Pat Cummins and guided it straight to Smith.
Bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes resisted briefly before flipping the ball off his hip in the air to fine leg, where Cummins took a smart catch to give Hazlewood the wicket. Just like that, England had lost three wickets in four overs and their tail had been exposed.
Scenting blood, the Aussie quicks exploited the pace and bounce in the WACA deck to buffet the England tail with short balls. Overton and Broad spooned up catches, after Bairstow had his stumps rattled by a full delivery from Mitchell Starc.
Surprisingly, despite the blanket media coverage of this Ashes, there has been limited acknowledgement of Starc’s extraordinary returns so far in this series. With 18 wickets from five innings, he is on pace to take 36 wickets for the series, just one shy of Mitchell Johnson’s famous return in the 2013-14 Ashes.
Of course, he is unlikely to maintain this rate of wicket taking, but Starc’s impact on this series has been monumental. So far he has taken more wickets than Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Moeen Ali and Jake Ball combined.
On a pitch which has made batting easy, Australia will need Starc to defy the conditions once more in England’s second innings if they are to win this Test and regain the Ashes. First, however, it is Smith who must continue to dominate.