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Australia 280 for 8 (Smith 94, Labuschagne 58, Marsh 50, Rashid 3-57) vs England
Smith and Marnus Labuschagne added 101 in 19 overs for the third wicket then Smith and Mitchell Marsh put on 90 for the fifth after Adil Rashid had knocked them back with two wickets in two balls.
Smith was not as fluent as two days ago in Adelaide, after which he said it was the best he felt at the crease in six years, but moved into the 90s with a flick for six over backward square leg against Sam Curran. However, attempting to reach his century with another six he picked out long-off against Rashid in the 44th over.
Australia’s openers had made a brisk start before Moeen Ali, standing in as captain for Jos Buttler, struck with his second ball when David Warner swept to square leg. Travis Head followed three overs later when he fluffed a pull shot to midwicket against Chris Woakes to leave Australia 43 for 2.
Labuschagne started positively when he skipped down the pitch to Moeen and lofted him over wide mid-on and generally scored more freely than Smith who struck his first boundary off his 14th ball but did not add another until his 65th when he clubbed David Willey over the leg side.
Labuschagne went to a neat 47-ball fifty, which proved the most fluent batting of the innings, and was furious with himself when he toe-ended a sweep against Rashid which looped to mid-off. Rashid struck again next ball when Alex Carey played over the top of a sweep and Sam Billings was very swift to remove the bails with Carey’s foot on the line.
The hat-trick delivery was misdirected into Marsh’s pads and alongside Smith the pair rebuilt to give Australia a platform going into the final 10 overs but they were not able to fully capitalise.
Marcus Stoinis couldn’t get going in a 14-ball 13 before missing a swing at Woakes and though Marsh, who had returned in place of the rested Cameron Green, moved to a 58-ball half-century he couldn’t move through the gears. Some final-over swinging and scampering from Ashton Agar added 16 and in all the final 10 overs brought 76 runs.
Earlier, Josh Hazlewood had been the somewhat surprising figure to appear at the toss for Australia when Pat Cummins was rested. It was the first time Hazlewood had captained in a professional match. Green was also left out and had returned to Perth with an eye on the Test summer.
England made three changes with Curran, Woakes and Rashid coming in for Buttler, Chris Jordan and Olly Stone.
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