Manchester: Australia have declared on 186/6 with a lead of 382 in the third session of Day 4 of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Steve Smith was the star batsman once again as he rapidly put together 82 off 92 balls and England have now been set a target of 383.
Australia were set back by Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer in the early part of the innings as they dismissed David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head before they could make a significant difference to the scorecard.
However, Matthew Wade stuck with Steve Smith as the latter upped the tempo with some typically unorthodox shots. 105 runs were put up between the pair out of 72 runs came from Smith off 73 balls.
Smith looked set for an astonishing fourth century of the series with the England bowlers looking hapless whenever he was on strike. However, the 30-year-old went for one shot too many as it turns out, with his dismissal coming when he tried to go big off Leach and ended up holing out in the deep. His score of 82 is his lowest in this series.
Wade followed soon after which Australian captain Tim Paine put together 28 runs with Mitchell Starc before suddenly declaring in the middle of the 49th over.
