Smith ton and late strikes put Australia on top

Steve Smith’s epic century and a double strike late in the day by seamer Josh Hazlewood put Australia in the pound seats at the end of the third day of the first Ashes Test at the GABBA on Saturday.
Home captain Smith struck a majestic 141 to guide his side to 328 all out, a lead of 26 runs on England who were bowled out for 302 on the second day.
Smith resumed his partnership with Shaun Marsh (51) at the start of the day which stood at 89, and the duo took their stand to 99 with Marsh going on to score his eight half-century in Test cricket.
The visitors then made inroads into the batting line-up with Tim Paine (13) and Mitchell Starc (6) falling fairly quickly but Smith found a willing partner in Pat Cummins.
Cummins scored 42 important runs and shared in a vital stand of 66 with his captain, the duo batting almost all of the second session before Cummins was out to England seamer Chris Woakes.
Smith though started to attack and added 23 for the ninth wicket with Hazlewood (6) and 30 with last man Nathan Lyon (9) as the Aussies took a narrow lead after both teams batted their first innings.
Stuart Broad stuck manfully to his task all day and finished with figures of 3-49 while James and Anderson and spinner Moeen Ali took two wickets each.
Australia made sure they ended the day on top when Hazlewood had Alastair Cook (7) caught at fine-leg before the same bowler had James Vince (2), England top-scorer in the first innings, taken at second slip to leave the visitors on 17/2.
Mark Stoneman (19 not out) and Joe Root (5 not out) survived a hostile spell of fast bowling from Mitchell Starc and Cummins to close out the day on 33/2, a lead of seven.
Latest
-
News
Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj earn first BCCI contracts
Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, have suffered contract demotions.
-
News
Dom Sibley injury adds to England’s worries with Ben Stokes facing 12 weeks out
Stokes was injured playing in the IPL while Sibley was in County Championship action with Warwickshire.
-
News
Can England cope without talisman Ben Stokes against New Zealand this summer?
All-rounder Stokes faces up to 12 weeks out with a fractured finger.
-
News
Ben Stokes ruled out for up to three months with broken finger
The England all-rounder will have surgery on the injury picked up playing in the Indian Premier League.
-
News
Scott Borthwick hits century as Durham get better of Essex at Chelmsford
Essex fell apart on the opening day of their County Championship clash with Durham.
-
News
Babar Azam wants to top rankings in Test cricket as well
Currently sixth on the Test batting rankings, Babar Azam hopes to change that as soon as possible.
-
News
Cricket Australia announces contracted women’s players for 2021-22
Australia Women will host India and England this summer before heading to New Zealand for the ICC World Cup in March, 2022.
-
News
On this day in 2009: Andy Flower appointed England team director
The former Zimbabwe captain had been in charge on an interim basis since the previous January following Peter Moores’ sacking.
-
News
Wisden salute Jason Holder’s leadership with spot among Cricketers of the Year
Holder joins England batsmen Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley, Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens.
-
News
Stuart Broad: The time I made cover of Wisden and nobody could tell it was me…
Two themes loom large within the 1,248 pages: coronavirus and racism.