Ashes 2017-18, 3rd Test, Day 3 Review: Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh decimate England

Although England have had quite a few bad days in the series, this was easily the worst that they had as the Kangaroo batsmen just piled on their misery and pushed them into a position where they almost can’t think of winning the Test match anymore. At the end of the day’s play, Australia found themselves in an utterly dominating position with the two centurions of the innings Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh still unbeaten at the crease on the scores of 229 and 181 respectively.

What stood out during the day’s play was the lack of sting in English bowling. There was no instance where they looked like having the Aussie batsmen in trouble. With the pitch settling down on day 3 and not offering as much pace as the first two days, it was always going to be a tall order for the visitors, but it wasn’t supposed to be as easy for Smith & Co. as it turned out to be.

There were cracks on the pitch which had started opening up late yesterday evening and what the English bowlers needed was to show some purpose and try and hammer away at the right lengths to get those cracks into play, but none of them including the two senior statesmen James Anderson and Stuart Broad showed intensity through their run-ups.

Steve Smith continued his purple patch

The Aussies to their credit were really disciplined in their approach with the bat. Although the overnight partnership between Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh didn’t carry on for much longer as the latter edged one to first slip off the bowling of Moeen Ali, Smith found an able partner in the former’s brother Mitchell Marsh and the duo just feasted on the English attack.

Smith’s control both on the front foot as well as the back foot was exemplary. The Aussie skipper who is arguably the best batsman in the world in the longest format of the game at the moment was pretty severe on anything that was off the mark. Room outside the off stump, he cut fiercely, short on the body, he pulled authoritatively and anything slightly full, he drove with utmost precision. It was almost a batting manual on display as the New South Welshman completed his 22nd hundred and went on to convert it into the second double hundred of his career.

Mitchell Marsh scored his maiden Test hundred

The junior Marsh, at the other end, relished this opportunity to bat with the skipper as he looked really focussed in his comeback game. It was challenging for him first up as England opted for the second new ball and one or two went past his bat, but that didn’t elude him into a false stroke as he stuck to his game plan and refused to hit anything square of the wicket with a horizontal bat.

Most of Marsh’s shots initially went through the mid-off and the extra cover region as he hit some gorgeous off drives planting the front foot right forward against Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. The cuts and punches also followed once he was set and started feeling comfortable about his presence at the crease. The 26-year old crossed the three-figure mark for the first time in his Test career and he couldn’t have found a better venue for that than WACA which is his home ground.

As the day approached its end, the wheels completely came off for England as the boundaries flew in all corners of the ground with Mitchell Marsh in particular ripping into the part-time spinners and tired fast bowlers bowling through the last hour. The Western Australia right-hander was closing in on his double hundred at stumps.

Brief Scores:

England: 403 all out in 115.1 overs (Dawid Malan 140, Jonny Bairstow 119, Mitchell Starc 91/4)

Australia: 549/4 in 152 overs (Steve Smith 229*, Mitchell Marsh 181*; Craig Overton 102/2)