Genius wrapped in controversy inside an enigma: Smith's brilliance puts Australia in charge

SAM MORSHEAD AT EDGBASTON: All this in not only his first Test match in 16 months, but his first game of first-class cricket. Freakery so outlandish PT Barnum would have made it his headline act

Scorecard

For all those funky fields, for every bowlers’ meeting, for those long sessions of video analysis.

For all the endless hours of TV debate, of pitch-maps and beehives, of former pros theorising and hypothesising like Greek pseuds in a sauna.

For all the tension and frustration and irritation in the stands, and the thousands of column inches dedicated to finding a solution.

Despite all of that, the answer was so simple. New ball, wide and full, move it away. Sometimes, if only occasionally, Steve Smith is as fallible as the rest of us.

The trouble for England here was that by the time Chris Woakes did manage to get Australia’s extraordinary batsman to nibble, he had already made 142 second-innings runs, taking his country to a position of complete control in the Test match.

He had flogged England’s attack like a medieval slavedriver, bullied them like an eight-year-old on a growth spurt, savaged them as if they were a bloody carcass thrown over the wall of the hyena enclosure.

^{Steve Smith made 142 in Australia's second innings}

He became the first player to make two Ashes hundreds in the same match since Matthew Hayden 17 years ago, and just the third man to accumulate 250-plus runs in a single Ashes Test twice - joining Don Bradman and Wally Hammond. 

He batted for 774 minutes in this match - long enough to provide in-flight entertainment for the entire trip to Bangkok - and faced 428 deliveries. For context, Jonny Bairstow has faced just 20 more in his past 10 red-ball knocks for England. 

And all this in not only his first Test match in 16 months, but his first game of first-class cricket. 

Freakery so outlandish PT Barnum would have made it his headline act.

Before Smith eventually did edge behind, he had only given England three glimpses of hope all day.

The first - a skewed drive - fizzed in the air through extra cover for four early on. The second - a tuck off the hip - whistled wide of the diving Joe Denly 80 minutes into play. The third - a stolen second run - would have been fatal had Denly managed a direct hit. From the boundary.

Those moments aside, Smith offered nothing, not a morsel, draining the occasion of all its intensity - from an England perspective, at least. The Barmy Army were much, much quieter than usual, the Hollies Stand oddly hushed for long periods. It was perfect Test-match batting in a hostile, volatile environment.

And England were at a loss at how to stop it.

VISIT THE ASHES HUB

“On the evidence of Edgbaston, the opportunity to spend a year plotting his downfall hasn’t led England to any meaningful conclusions,” mused Ian Chappell in a recent ESPNcricinfo column.

That sounds like a slight on Trevor Bayliss and Joe Root, but it can be interpreted just as easily as a compliment of Smith, who has given very few clues for his opponents to work with. Let’s face it, even Sherlock Holmes would struggle to collar a killer equipped with little more than an etch-a-sketch mugshot. 

Root ran through the entire playbook over the course of Smith’s two innings in Birmingham. 

At various times he inserted a short leg, leg slip, leg gully, short cover-point, silly mid-on, short midwicket, and - with Smith past 100 and batting serenely - a very random short third man. 

There must have been logic behind it, but the strategy seemed scattergun, as if the result of a fielding one-armed bandit.

Pull the lever and watch the wheels spin… what will you get? Jos Buttler, in a helmet, on his knees at silly gully. Congratulations! But you needed three watermelons for the payout. 

This hundred was not quite as impressive as Smith’s first of the game - though that is somewhat like saying Van Gogh was no Picasso, nor Spielberg Scorsese - but that could easily have been because it was nowhere near as dramatic.

While the day-one salvo picked Australia up off the floor and saw them through to the round-12 bell, on day four Smith was the glue to a much more complete batting performance.

He was supported superbly by Travis Head - who since his debut last year has made more Test runs than anyone in the world bar Kane Williamson - to turn Australia’s meagre overnight lead into one of substance, and then coupled up with the compact Matthew Wade to drive England into the dirt.

^{Smith dominated England's bowlers again}

Those two partnerships, of 125 and 126 for the fourth and fifth wickets, all but ended the home side’s chances in this match. No team has ever chased more than 283 to win a Test at Edgbaston; when Tim Paine called time on his team’s innings with seven overs remaining on Sunday, England were left needing 398 for victory.

It is too easy to mock the home side, of course. While their bowling display in the second innings was hardly optimal, they have been shorn of a bowler for much of this match thanks to Jimmy Anderson’s calf injury and were excellent in the opening two sessions

In fact, but for Smith’s first century of the match, England would likely have had this sewn up without the need for a fifth day.

Instead, they require a monumental batting effort of their own on Monday. Historically, the fifth day is the hardest on which to bat at Edgbaston - wickets fall on average after every 21 runs as compared to 41 on day four - and although the pitch is not getting that much harder to bat on, it would be a surprise to see Nathan Lyon bowl quite as limply as Moeen Ali. 

Lyon was out in the middle at lunch to investigate the rough, imitating the stance of left and right-handers, like a leopard window-shopping at the butcher’s. 

He will be itching to get hold of the ball tomorrow, especially after watching Moeen turn one sharply through Paine’s defences midway through the evening session. 

Australia will be expecting. And that, largely, is because of Smith - a genius, wrapped in controversy, inside an enigma.

To celebrate England winning the World Cup you can subscribe to The Cricketer for just £20.19. Click here to learn more