Ashes 2017 Australia v England fourth Test, day five – as it happened : Australia and England draw 4th Test after Steve Smith scores 23rd Test hundred

Ashes 2017 Australia v England fourth Test, day five – as it happened : Australia and England draw 4th Test after Steve Smith scores 23rd Test hundred It isn’t going to be 5-0 to Australia. For the vast majority of this tour, and during the opening exchanges of his match, a whitewash had seemed a certainty. That England won’t lose every game represents a turnaround. That is how bad things had got. The series had gone, but this result mattered Steve Smith batted through the entire last day to remain unbeaten on 102 as Australia held on to draw the fourth Ashes Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.The Australian captain delivered another masterclass in concentration and discipline by occupying the crease for more than seven hours to steer his team out of danger and retain their 3-0 series lead heading into next week’s final Test in Sydney. image source England briefly held hope of snatching a morale-boosting victory after surrendering the old urn by losing the first three tests when they dismissed David Warner and Shaun Marsh before lunch but failed to take any more wickets as Smith and Mitchell Marsh (29 not out) survived the last two sessions to reach 263 for four, an overall lead of 99 runs, when the teams agreed to an early finish. Smith followed up his 76 from the first innings to take his series total to 604 runs at the astonishing average of 151 with a near-flawless performance on a lifeless pitch offering no assistance to England’s frustrated bowlers.Australia lost just two wickets on the fifth day. His last score was 263 runs in four wickets. Mitchell Marsh remained unbeaten on 29 runs. Australia won the first three Tests and scored a 3-0 lead in the series. The fifth and final Test will be played in Sydney next week . I was pretty chilled out today. It was a bit of a shame really we had to call it off really, I was enjoying it out there.”I’m in a nice place mentally, I’m comfortable with my game.”I’m mixing up a few different things with my feet and hands every now and again to different bowlers and just ensuring I have really good plans to each of the bowlers.”]]>