Smith’s masterful ton lifts Aussies
Steve Smith marked his return to Test cricket with a hundred before Australia were bowled out for 284 on the opening day of the Ashes series against England at Edgbaston yesterday.
The former captain was playing his first match at this level since completing a 12-month ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa last year.
Australia were struggling at 17-2 when Smith walked in to bat after current captain Tim Paine won the toss for the Ashes holders, looking to win their first Test series away to England in 18 years, and took the bold decision to bat first.
And they were in dire straits at 122-8.
But their last two wickets more than doubled the score before Smith was last man out for 144 -- his 24th Test century.
Stuart Broad, who eventually bowled Smith, led England’s attack with 5-86 in an innings in which 37-year-old spearhead James Anderson only managed four overs before leaving the field with a calf injury.
Earlier, Broad and Chris Woakes tore through Australia’s batting line-up with Steve Smith fighting a lone battle to keep the rampant World Cup winners at bay.
The visitors were struggling at 154-8 at tea with Broad (4-38) and Woakes (3-35) sharing seven wickets between them.
England’s performance was especially impressive given James Anderson, their all-time leading Test wicket-taker, bowled just four overs before going for a scan on a right calf injury.
A partisan crowd booed the visitors when they walked out for the pre-match anthem ceremony.
David Warner and Smith at least knew what to expect, having been given similar rough treatment during the recent World Cup, which saw England beat defending champions Australia in an Edgbaston semi-final.
Dangerous left-handed opener Warner was lbw to Broad for two and did not bother with a review, even though technology suggested the ball would have missed leg stump.
As the initial exultant cheers from the crowd at an early wicket died down, Warner was subjected to a prolonged chorus of boos on his walk back to the pavilion, with spectators in the Hollies Stand waving strips of sandpaper and shouting “cheerio”.
Fellow opener Cameron Bancroft, who was banned along with Smith and Warner after he applied sandpaper to the ball during a Test in Cape Town last year, hit two boundaries but then edged a fine Broad delivery that bounced and cut away to England captain Root at first slip.
The combination of Bancroft departing and Smith walking in to bat prompted the loudest jeers of the morning.
Usman Khawaja then departed for 13 in an innings where the umpires had several decisions overturned, England needed a review to confirm a dismissal that left Australia 35-3.
Smith and Travis Head saw Australia to a lunch score of 83-3.
But a fourth-wicket stand of 64 ended when Head was lbw to Woakes for 35, with new batsman Matthew Wade falling in similar fashion to leave Australia 105-5.
Smith was in dire need of solid support and got it from Peter Siddle (44) to take away the initiatives from England.
The match is the first of the ICC’s new World Test Championship, with players’ names and squad numbers displayed on the backs of their shirts for the first time in 142 years of Test cricket.
SCORES IN BRIEF
Australia: 284 all out in 80.4 overs (Smith 144, Head 35, Siddle 44; Broad 5-86, Woakes 3-58, Stokes 1-77, Ali 1-42)
England: 10 for no loss in 2 overs (Burns 4 not out, Roy 6 not out)
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