itstargetnews
Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith is known as one of the best fielders of this generation and he has once again justified his title. As the ball flew past Will Jacks’ outside edge, the right-handed batsman dived to his left and dug a ball out of the ground.
The Ashes have always been regarded as exciting Test matches, but England’s performance on the Australian island was not promising as they have not won an Ashes match since their last victory in 2010/11.
Going into the Ashes, England had already lost one game and were on the verge of losing again to what former England players called the weakest Australian side in Ashes history. These performances were achieved without their best players, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Your daily dose of cricket!
Wow! ! Steve Smith gets Australia back into game with incredible grab
Australia have broken down England’s batting order. However, captains Ben Stokes and Will Jacks looked determined during the first session of day four at the Gabba in Brisbane.
The seventh wicket saw England overtake a deficit as Michael Neser’s delivery caught the outside edge of Will Jacks’ bat and Steve Smith, standing at first skip, lunged to his left and nearly dug the bat out of the ground.
That catch by Steve Smith was unusual, he caught a moving ball as he was closer to the batsman than he should be when defending against a medium pace bowler. A remarkable effort from the skipper almost turned the tide in Australia’s favour.
never! No way, Steve Smith! Wow!#ashes | #PlayoftheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/4ziSJChGd4
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 7, 2025
England conceded again in the second innings with a low target
The Englishmen again conceded a wicket in the second innings of a Test match. Batting in the first innings, Zak Crawley and Joe Root helped England cross the 300-run mark, but in return, huge contributions from Jack Weatherallard, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc helped Australia reach over 500 runs, with no batsman crossing the three-digit mark.
England were already 177 runs behind and at one point it looked like Australia would take the point in an innings. England’s top order scurried back to the pavilion as every Australian runner caused them trouble. The only partnership to help them rebuild was between captain Stokes and Jacks.
However, after Jack’s wicket, Nessel bowled the England skipper and picked the last wicket of Brendan Cass to take the target of 65 runs to end England at 241.
Michael Neser takes 5 wickets for the first time in Test cricket
With his recent performance, Michael Neser took 5 wickets for the first time. Previously, he had played only two Test matches for Australia and picked seven wickets in one match with best figures of 5/56.
However, this time he had 6 wickets in the match and his first five-wicket haul, also with the pink ball in the day/night game, it was a remarkable hauling effort. Mitchell Starc scored 77 runs and took 8 wickets in the match.
