MANCHESTER: Australia star batsman Steve Smith marked his first Test innings since suffering concussion with a fourth fifty of the series as he extended his Ashes run-spree against England at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
The former captain missed England’s dramatic one-wicket win in the third Test at Headingley after being felled by a bouncer from paceman Jofra Archer in the drawn second match of the series at Lord’s.
Smith came in with Australia in trouble at 28-2 after winning the toss on the opening day of the fourth Test in Manchester, facing his first ball from Archer.
He reached his fifty with his seventh four in 81 balls when he extravagantly cover-drove all-rounder Ben Stokes with a shot that saw the batsman end up on his knees.
On a rain-marred day before the visitors moved to 170-3 at tea with 46 overs still remaining in the day’s play.
Marnus Labuschagne, who has made four successive Test fifties since coming in as Smith’s concussion substitute, was bowled by seamer Jamie Overton in the following over for 67, to leave Australia 144-3.
Smith, who this week returned to the top of the world Test batting rankings, is playing in his first series at this level since completing a 12-month ban for ball-tampering.
The 30-year-old former Australia captain scored 144 and 142 in his side’s 251-run win in the first Test at Edgbaston before making 92 at Lord’s.
Australia were 98-2 off 26 overs at lunch after Stuart Broad’s double strike, which included David Warner’s exit for a duck.
Persistent rain during and after the scheduled 40-minute lunch break kept the players off the field for several hours.
Australia captain Tim Paine took the bold decision to bat first after winning the toss, even though both top orders have struggled this series.
But just four balls into the innings Broad, again leading England’s attack in the absence of regular new-ball partner James Anderson, had Warner caught behind for nought as he tried to withdraw his bat — a carbon copy of one of the left-hander’s dismissals earlier this series.
It was the fifth time Broad had snared Warner this series.
Marcus Harris had kept his place alongside Warner at the top of the order after Australia dropped the struggling Usman Khawaja but the left-hander fell for 13 when Broad trapped him lbw from around the wicket with a ball that nipped back.
Kumar Dharmasena eventually responded to Broad’s prolonged appeal by raising his finger, with his decision upheld on umpire’s call after Harris’s review.
Ashes-holders Australia are looking to bounce back from a stunning one-wicket defeat in the third Test at Headingley, where Ben Stokes’s 135 not out saw England square the five-match series at 1-1.
Scoreboard
AUSTRALIA (1st Innings):
M.S. Harris lbw b Broad 13
D.A. Warner c Bairstow b Broad 0
M. Labuschagne b Overton 67
S.P.D. Smith not out 60
T.M. Head not out 18
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8) 12
TOTAL (for three wkts, 44 overs) 170
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-28, 3-144.
TO BAT: M.S. Wade, T.D. Paine, P.J. Cummins, M.A. Starc, J.R. Hazlewood, N.M. Lyon.
BOWLING (to-date): Broad 10-2-35-2; Archer 10-0-28-0; Stokes 8-0-36-0; Leach 6-2-18-0; Overton 10-0-41-1.
ENGLAND: R.J. Burns, J.L. Denly, J.E. Root, J.J. Roy, B.A. Stokes, J.M. Bairstow, J.C. Buttler, C. Overton, J.C. Archer, S.C.J. Broad, M.J. Leach.
UMPIRES: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and M. Erasmus (South Africa).
TV UMPIRE: R.S.A. Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).
MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).
