Australia v England, Fourth Ashes Test day four: Rain and senior Aussie batsmen halt England charge
Heavy rain and a stubborn stand between David Warner and Steve Smith have damaged England's chances of victory in the fourth Ashes Test.
Fourth Ashes Test scoreboard
Match drawn
Australia 2nd inns: 263-4d (124.2 overs. Smith 102*, Warner 86, M Marsh 29*, Bancroft 27, Khawaja 11; Root 1-1, Broad 1-43, Anderson 1-46, Woakes 1-62)
England 1st inns: 491 (144.1 overs. Cook 244*, Root 61, Broad 56, Woakes 26, Bairstow 22, Ali 20, Vince 17, Stoneman 15, Malan 14; Hazlewood 3-95, Lyon 3-109, Cummins 4-117)
Australia 1st inns: 327 (119 overs. Warner 103, Smith 76, S Marsh 61, Bancroft 26, Paine 24, Khawaja 17; Broad 4-51, Curran 1-65, Anderson 3-61, Woakes 2-72)
Day five report
England yet again had no answer to Steve Smith as the Australia captain took his Ashes tally to 604 runs this winter with his third century to close out a predictable stalemate at the MCG.
The hosts can no longer achieve a third 5-0 whitewash in England's last four visits – but after Smith's unbeaten 102, batting against type on a deathly slow pitch, they dashed any hopes of a consolation victory for Joe Root's men in this fourth Test and so stay three up with one to play.
Smith lost the assistance of an equally becalmed David Warner (86) in late morning, after Australia resumed still 61 in arrears with two wickets down, but he batted throughout the final day to steer Australia to the security of 263 for four to close out the draw 99 in front.
There was zero promise for England through the majority of the first session, as they failed to get the old ball off straight – and there was precious little variable bounce either.
Root had already given Dawid Malan's part-time leg-breaks a run when he decided there was no harm in finding out if he himself could maybe turn the ball the other way here.
Warner had spent more than five hours in stoic self-denial, no mean feat for a batsman whose career has been characterised throughout by attacking intent and flair.
The sight of Root's occasional off-breaks was too much, though, and he went after the first he faced – the Yorkshireman's second delivery in all – and paid the price.
Root pitched it perfectly into a foothold just outside the left-hander's off-stump, but Warner went after it all the same and managed only to skew a catch high into the safe hands of James Vince at extra-cover.
Shortly afterwards, Smith followed Warner's slowest Test half-century with his own second-slowest – from 151 balls, 10 fewer than the opener – but when Shaun Marsh fell to a brilliant catch by Jonny Bairstow off Stuart Broad on the stroke of lunch, two wickets had fallen for six runs.
England therefore started the afternoon with renewed belief in the improbable, but Smith had other ideas.
Joined by Mitch Marsh, with whom he had put on a record 301 at the WACA, the world's number one batsman was on a mission to protect his team's series advantage.
Marsh needed 20 deliveries to get off the mark but, apart from squirting one thick edge just short of point, he was once again an able accomplice in his captain's plans as Australia comfortably negotiated the second new ball.
After two sessions, the statistics bordered on an uncanny symmetry as Australia went from 61 runs behind to the same number in front – off 61.1 overs.
It was an unfeasible crawl, Marsh playing his own manful part with 10 almost strokeless runs from 97 balls up to tea.
In what remained of the 'contest', more of the same followed – interrupted only by the highlight of Smith's century milestone, from 259 balls with six fours spread over almost seven hours – before an early close was mercifully agreed, with the home captain averaging 151.
- Australia have added spinner Ashton Agar to their squad for next week's fifth and final Test in Sydney
Day four report
England reduced David Warner and Steve Smith to a backs-to-the-wall go-slow as Australia tried to wipe out their fourth Test deficit after Alastair Cook's double-century.
Cook (244no) became the first England player to carry his bat in a Test match for 20 years when James Anderson fell to the very first ball of a drastically rain-shortened fourth day in a total of 491 all out at the MCG.
Australia therefore had to begin their second innings 164 runs in arrears, with all realistic hopes of completing a 5-0 whitewash on the backburner already.
Third-wicket pair Warner and Smith were then soon engaged in damage-limitation, with a shot at 4-0 in Sydney next week their possible reward.
But on a day shorn of more than 43 overs once forecast rain arrived, their job was still in its infancy on 103 for two – still 61 runs behind – when an early close was confirmed.
The rain saw England's odds for a consolation victory drift to 7/2 by the early close having been odds-on for much of the day.
Cook had no opportunity to add to his 10-and-a-half-hour tour-de-force on the morning resumption, because his 10th-wicket partner Anderson was gone immediately – caught at short-leg off Pat Cummins (four for 117).
It meant England's all-time record runscorer was still able to bag another claim to fame, however, by becoming just the eighth from his country to carry his bat in a Test innings and first since Michael Atherton at Christchurch in 1997.
It also meant an earlier start to the rearguard than Australia had doubtless anticipated.
Warner and Cameron Bancroft were not fazed, however, in a half-century opening stand.
Bancroft's departure at that point was a surprise - bowled off an inside-edge by Chris Woakes, who had come on as first change after just four overs and was quickly paired up with Tom Curran as Joe Root deployed Anderson and Stuart Broad for only five between them with the new ball.
By then, there was already chuntering afoot in several commentary boxes about England's treatment of the ball – including the universal practice of throwing it in from the outfield on the bounce, in the hope of finding reverse-swing via scuffing for later in the innings.
England were made aware by the umpires that they were keeping an eye on the tactic.
Reverse-swing did enter the equation in due course – and after Anderson returned to have Usman Khawaja caught-behind, lateral movement in the air was the chief threat to Warner and Smith.
They responded, against type, by taking their watchfulness to extremes in a peculiarly stoic stand which saw just 33 runs added in almost 20 overs through a rain-interrupted second session.
Combative opener Warner's share, an unbeaten 40 from 140 balls, was a jarring contrast with the majority of his exploits in a career characterised by attacking intent.
It was serving Australia's purpose, however – with plenty more resistance still needed if the weather relents on day five.
Day three report
Alastair Cook's record-breaking double-century kept England in control of the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.
Cook (244no), with a best of just 37 in his previous 10 innings, resumed on day three with his 32nd Test hundred already in the book – and what followed was remarkable, especially during a ninth-wicket stand of exactly 100 with Stuart Broad (56), as he made up entirely for the fragility of several team-mates.
England's all-time record runscorer beat Wally Hammond's previous ground-record 200 for a compatriot, and then surpassed Viv Richards' best of 209 from any overseas batsman here.
For England, the bottom line of 491 for nine and a first-innings advantage of 164 were riches indeed after their captain Joe Root (61) and others had briefly invited Australia back into the contest.
Cook also moved up to sixth in the global list of top Test runscorers just before stumps, above the great Brian Lara, having already passed his double-hundred by straight-driving his 360th ball for his 23rd four off Jackson Bird after almost nine-and-a-half hours at the crease.
How the tourists needed his sustained return to form too as they try to avoid a series whitewash, after losing the Ashes in Perth last week.
Root was rightly furious with himself when, as has become his unwelcome trademark, he failed to convert his 50 into a century - guilty of both faulty shot selection and execution, mis-pulling Pat Cummins to deep square-leg.
He stormed off, kicking the pitch on his way and ditching his batting gloves as soon as he made it past the boundary marker.
Root's misadventure was far from England's last, Dawid Malan failing to invoke DRS over his lbw dismissal despite the fact that – as with James Vince the previous day – Hotspot indicated an inside-edge on a delivery from Josh Hazlewood.
Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali then both got out to Nathan Lyon in the middle session.
Moeen was easily the most culpable, but Bairstow's departure – caught-behind making room to cut the off-spinner – was avoidable too.
Moeen's manic cameo spoke of a cricketer who has got himself in a proper tangle on this tour, before he hit a long-hop to cover to go for 20 from just 14 balls.
England needed a much more sensible hand from Chris Woakes, to stop a costly collapse taking hold, and he was perfectly on-messsage.
Cook was dropped by Steve Smith for a second time – having given a sharp slip chance on 66 on day two - and this time he profited when the home captain could not hold on low down at square-leg off Cummins.
Woakes was bounced out by Cummins straight after tea to end a crucial partnership of 59 – but one which merely prefaced the improbable Broad-Cook show.
After debutant Tom Curran edged Hazlewood behind, it seemed Cook would be up against it to complete his double as the home pace attack instantly targeted Broad with the short ball.
There were several scrapes, of course, but skill and judgement too until Broad fell in mild controversy to Usman Khawaja's diving and juggling outfield catch – having done much, with his eight fours and a six from 63 balls, to give England an outstanding chance of reducing the series arrears to 3-1.
Day two report
Alastair Cook completed his century in the last over before stumps at the MCG as he and fellow Ashes heavyweight Stuart Broad belatedly kickstarted their campaigns this winter to put Australia under pressure at last.
Broad came into this fourth Test with just five wickets in the series, amid calls from some to leave him out as England sought to avoid a 5-0 whitewash, while all-time national record runscorer Cook had failed to muster a half-century in his six innings down under.
Mixed feelings therefore inevitably prevailed as, with the urn already gone, Broad burst into life first with four for 51 as Australia lost their last seven wickets for 67 to be bowled out for 327, and then Cook (104no) steered England to 192 for two alongside Joe Root (49no) on day two.
The opener was posting his 32nd Test hundred, having failed to pass even 50 in any of his last 11 attempts - dating back to his 243 against West Indies in England's inaugural pink-ball match at Edgbaston more than four months ago.
Tom Curran had got England up and running in the morning session when, after a third-umpire no-ball call had chalked off David Warner as his maiden Test wicket the previous day, he bagged an even bigger fish in Steve Smith (76).
The prolific Australia captain had added only 11 to his overnight score, and his stand with Shaun Marsh (61) moved to exactly 100, when he fell to the first of three drag-ons as the hosts found trouble on this slow pitch.
Smith was trying to carve off-side runs but managed only to chop the ball back down on to his stumps, and it was not long before Mitch Marsh fell in almost identical circumstances to Chris Woakes.
Broad, so close to seeing off the elder Marsh for a first-ball duck on day one, finally did so - again in an uncanny near repeat when he overturned an initial not-out verdict for lbw.
That was the first of five wickets which would fall for 13 runs as Australia, without the injured Mitchell Starc here to bolster their tail, proved vulnerable after all.
Old stagers Broad and James Anderson (three for 61) took advantage, Tim Paine edging an attempted pull down on to his stumps off the latter and Josh Hazlewood last man standing as three other tailenders amounted to very little.
England had given themselves similar opportunities at various stages of the first three Tests, but never managed to capitalise.
This time, Cook ensured the foothold was secured.
He lost his opening partner Mark Stoneman to a leading edge and one-handed return catch by Nathan Lyon, and James Vince did not appear to feel a thin inside-edge which was picked up by Hotspot and would have overturned his lbw dismissal to Hazlewood.
Cook rarely looked likely to pass up his chance once set - although he did have a moment of fortune when Smith dropped him at slip on 66 off Mitch Marsh.
Becalmed, he nonetheless moved above former Australia captain Allan Border up to ninth in the all-time global list of Test runscorers - and then, just before the close, pulled part-time leg-spinner Smith for his 15th four from 164 balls to reach three figures.
By then, he had acquired the assistance of Root in an unbroken century stand which put England in position to push for an elusive first-innings lead if they can only sustain this much-improved performance.
Day one report
England's tenacity brought scant reward as centurion David Warner and his Australia captain Steve Smith carried the opening day of the fourth Test.
Joe Root's tourists, in this case debutant Tom Curran, arguably contributed to their own problems with an overstep which granted Warner (103) a moment of outrageous fortune on 99 when he was reprieved after being caught at mid-on.
But they had done much to stifle the free-scoring opener, and then did not fade away as they might after Curran's no-ball in front of a partisan Boxing Day crowd of 88,000 plus at the MCG - James Anderson bagging the left-hander as his 100th Ashes victim in a total of 244 for three which included the staple half-century from Smith (65no).
There were jarring contrasts between the first two sessions, as well as Warner's innings and those of his team-mates.
England conceded 102 for none in 28 overs by lunch - 83 to Warner - yet took two for 43 in a further 26 before tea.
Warner reached his century from 130 balls, having hit 13 fours and a straight six in the over before lunch to bring up the team hundred.
There were no such riches for others, Cameron Bancroft enduring an unequal struggle at times for his laboured but laudable 26 from 95 deliveries in an opening stand of 122 and Usman Khawaja creeping into double-figures from 57 balls.
England were engaged in a limitation exercise against Warner from the moment Smith won his first toss of the series on a glorious morning.
There was a deep point and an equal and opposite man out in the leg-side, some 170 yards away, but Warner responded by punching boundaries down the ground instead.
He was past his 50 by the time Bancroft mastered single-digits.
But England were especially disciplined after lunch, and it seemed Curran had landed a famous first Test scalp when Warner - becalmed either side of his century by seven-two off-side fields to seamers operating round the wicket - mistimed a shovelled pull to mid-on.
Curran's celebrations turned to dismay when third umpire Joel Wilson delivered his no-ball verdict - and after the returning Warner clipped the next delivery off his hip to reach three-figures, exchanges between him, bowler and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow looked spicy.
England stuck to their task nonetheless and with Bancroft already gone lbw on the back foot to Chris Woakes, it was Anderson who had Warner caught-behind with some skilful movement off the pitch.
Stuart Broad had gone 69 overs and conceded 219 runs between wickets, stretching back to the second Test in Adelaide, when he finally ended Khawaja's tortured stay - caught-behind pushing forward.
He was close to doubling up immediately when Shaun Marsh was hit in front but given not out lbw and escaped a golden duck after England's review resulted only in an umpire's call verdict.
Smith steered the evening session comfortably back Australia's way, putting himself ahead in the race to be this year's leading Test runscorer as he continued his invincibility of late at this venue with a 98-ball 50.
But in the context of England's failed campaign so far, despite an unbroken stand of 84 alongside Marsh, this was still a plausible start to their attempt at avoiding a 5-0 whitewash.