England Endures Another Heartbreak as Steve Smith Secures His Place Among Ashes Century Legends

ENGLAND suffered another day of misery and frustration as Australia took total command of the Fifth Test.

You get the feeling some players can’t wait for the series to be over.

England suffered yet more misery as on Day Three of the Fifth Ashes testCredit: Reuters Brendan McCullum’s were put to the sword by Steve SmithCredit: PA

There were centuries for Travis Head and and a whole heap of misery for England’s bowlers and fielders.

By the close of day three of the final game of the series, had reached 518-7 and climbed to a lead of 134 with two days remaining. Smith was 129 not out.

Head needed only nine runs from his overnight 91 not out to complete his third century of the series. No problem for the dynamic left-hander and he went on to score 163.

He was dropped on the square leg boundary by Will Jacks off Brydon Carse, though, an absolute sitter of a chance.

Jacks made the fatal mistake of checking the position of his feet in relation to the boundary triangle and took his eyes off the ball at the last moment.

Jacks is renowned for having a safe pair of hands and the spilled opportunity summed up England’s predicament on this tour.

Actually, something happens most days to sum up their predicament.

Head could also have been run out on 154 by Ben Duckett, whose blunders with the bat and in the field seem to multiply every day.

Steve Smith is now second in the list for the most Hundreds in Ashes historyCredit: GETTY Steve Smith took a tumble on his way to making his centuryCredit: PA

But the day belonged mostly to Smith, who reached his 13th Test century against England – and 37th in all – on his home ground in Sydney.

Only the legendary Don Bradman, with 19, has more Ashes hundreds than Smith.

There were plenty of his usual quirks and the occasional big shot – he once hit Jacob Bethell’s left-arm spin for a huge six down the ground.

At one stage, he asked an England fielder to remove his sunglasses because of the glare and spent much of his innings with a dirty stain on the back of his shirt after rolling over a couple of times to avoid bouncers.

Smith could have been caught on 12 by Zak Crawley at leg slip. It was a tough chance but, naturally, Crawley couldn’t cling on.

Otherwise, Smith was in little trouble and, as annoying as some of his antics are for opponents, nobody can deny that he is an all-time great batsman.

Even the nightwatchman, Michael Neser, survived for 105 minutes in the morning before edging a catch behind off Carse. England burned their two remaining reviews against Neser, another example of panic mixing with misjudgement.

Neser was caught behind and Head was finally out lbw to Bethell when he missed an attempted sweep shot.

Bethell operated tidily enough with his left-arm spin and captain Ben Stokes generally preferred him to the off-spinners of Jacks.

Travis Head also bagged a CenturyCredit: GETTY Ben Stokes was England’s most threatening bowlerCredit: EPA

The tidiest and most threatening bowler was Stokes himself.

The pitch was beginning to offer some turn, which called into question the decision by both teams to omit a specialist spinner.

Usman Khawaja, in his last Test, missed a full toss and was leg before to Carse and wicketkeeper Alex Carey was snaffled at leg slip by Bethell off Josh Tongue.

Australia were 366-6 at this point and still 18 runs behind. But Smith, in partnership with the giant all-rounders Cameron Green and Beau Webster, soon crushed England’s hopes as they punished weary bowlers.

Green picked out Duckett at deep square leg and, finally, the little opening batsman managed to hold onto the catch.

With three of their first-choice fast bowlers – Mark Wood, and Gus Atkinson – all having flown home injured, England’s attack looked toothless at times.

Matthew Potts endured a nightmare first game of the series, finishing with figures of 0-141 conceded at 5.64 runs-an-over.

Carse snared three wickets, taking his total for the series to 22, which is a fairly amazing effort considering he has been so wayward at times. At least Carse has a big heart and never stops running in.