Brisbane: Steve Smith took a brilliant reflex catch to swing momentum, got into a heated exchange with Jofra Archer and then slogged the winning runs Sunday as Australia beat England again to take a 2-0 Ashes lead.
Set a target of 65 for victory in the second test after dismissing England for 241 in the second innings, Australia raced to an eight-wicket win late on Day 4 as storms brewed in and around the stadium.
Archer was bowling around 150 kph (93 mph) under the lights and it only fired up Smith.
“The adrenaline was pumping at the end of the end, yeah. Jofra was bowling pretty quick,” Smith said. “It was a huge win. Great to go 2-nil up.”
There were some theatrics involving the Australia captain and England’s strike pace bowler, with Smith ducking under a short ball and then critiquing Archer for bowling “fast when there’s nothing going on, champion.” He then hit a four and a six to bring up 1,000 test runs at the Gabba.
With Australia at 63-2 and needing just two runs to win the day-nighter, Smith hit a six to seal it and finished unbeaten on 23 from nine deliveries.
“Not really too sure what he said, and not sure what I said,” Smith told a post-match news conference. “It’s not any of your business, either,” he added, laughing. “So we’ll leave it out there.”
Day 4 was a tale of two captains. England skipper Stokes curbed his attacking instincts, dispensing with Bazball and pragmatically setting about reviving England’s Ashes prospects. England had resumed Sunday at 134-6, and took an hour and 36 minutes — 18.2 overs — to erase the first-innings deficit.
The Australian attack bowled a tight line and length and mixed it up with some short-pitch deliveries in an attempt to entice the usually aggressive England batters to have a go. Stokes (50) and Will Jacks (41) resisted the temptation for the entire first session, knowing that a wicket would expose the tailenders. It was a completely different approach to England’s usual attack-at-all costs mentality that has attracted wide criticism in the first two Ashes tests so far.
The seventh-wicket pair put on a 96-run stand to get England to the brink of the night session, but that ended when Smith — Australia’s stand-in captain — took a stunning one-hander diving to his left at slip off Michael Neser’s bowling to dismiss Jacks.
That was the momentum changer. The subsequent slide happened quickly, with England losing its last four wickets for 17 runs and Neser finishing with a five-wicket haul.