Ashes 2017-18, 4th Test, Review: Australia hold England for a draw on the back of another heroic ton from Steve Smith

The fourth Ashes Test match has been ended in a dull draw as Australia managed to keep England bowlers at bay on the final day on an unresponsive pitch. Steve Smith was once again excellent with his technique as the home side decided to block most of the deliveries. The poms tried their best to get through the defences of the hosts batters but they were successful in doing so only twice on the fifth day. However, England have finally ended their 8-match losing streak down under and it took a marathon knock from the veteran Alastair Cook who owned the game right from the word go.

David Warner and Steve Smith strode out to the middle for one final time at the iconic MCG this year with an aim to frustrate the opposition. They were successful in doing so as their approach didn’t change a bit. The pitch refused to deteriorate much to the joy of the home side and Warner was on his way to his second century in the game. But it was the skipper Joe Root who scalped him off his first ball of the innings as he top-edged an attempted slog-sweep which was caught by James Vince. Warner played an uncharacteristic knock of 86 runs off 227 deliveries. Soon, Shaun Marsh nicked one behind the stumps off James Anderson as the Barmy Army made their presence felt.

Steve Smith slams yet another ton

England had got a sniff to produce a sensational turnaround at the stroke of lunch. But the duo of Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh refused to play any shots post-lunch and blocked everything that came their way. The former, slowly but steadily, made his way to yet another masterful century, the 23rd of his Test career. He took a whopping 259 deliveries to reach the three-figure mark and made sure his team was safe in the end. This knock from Smith also displayed the other side of his unorthodox batting and proved that he can grind through whenever required for his team.

The centurion in Perth, Mitchell Marsh, curbed all his attacking instincts ever since he came to bat and just blocked. The blockathon continued until the last hour of the day embarked and finally, the captains decided to pull the plug. Joe Root and Smith shook hands as the lead went past 100 runs with six wickets in hand for Australia and the game was drawn, which was the expected result at the start of the day. The visitors toiled hard all day but they cannot go past Smith’s defences and stubborn Mitchell Marsh who used up 166 deliveries for his 29. Smith remained unbeaten on 102 with six fours to his name. Australia had scored 263/4 when the teams decided to end the game.

For England though this was much-needed confidence booster of a performance who finally ended their losing streak in Australia. But they were left ruing the rain which arrived at the wrong time for them on the fourth day. Also, it took almost 42 years and 12 Ashes Tests to end a Test match in a draw at the MCG. Alastair Cook was named Man of the Match for his stellar knock of 244* in the first innings in which he also carried his bat through. The fifth and the final Test will be played in Sydney as both teams would like to start the year and end the series on a high ahead of the ODI series.

Brief Scores

Australia 327 (D Warner 103; S Broad 4/51) & 263/4 (S Smith 102*)

England 491 (A Cook 244*; P Cummins 4/117)

Result: Draw

Man of the Match: Alastair Cook

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