Australian acting captain Steve Smith, considered one of the best fielders of this generation, has once again justified his title. The right-handed cricketer leapt to his left to run out of the field just as a ball passed Will Jacks’ outside edge.
The Ashes are always thought to make for exciting Test action, but England have failed to look promising in the Australian islands, as they have yet to win an Ashes game since their last win in 2010/11.
Coming into this Ashes, England have lost one game and are on the verge of another defeat against what former English players call the weakest Australian team in Ashes history. This performance came without their most premium players like Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Very good!! Steve Smith brings Australia back into the game with incredible catch
The Australians had already broken the back of the English batting order; However, captain Ben Stokes and Will Jacks looked resolute during the first session of the fourth day’s play at the Gabba in Brisbane.
The 7th wicket partnership, which took England ahead with the score trailing, was broken when Michael Neser’s ball caught the outside edge of Will Jacks’ bat and Steve Smith, who was standing at first skip, dived to his left and almost knocked a ball out of the ground.
That catch by Steve Smith was extraordinary, as he caught a spinning ball as he stood much closer to the batsman than he should have while fielding a medium pace bowler. An extraordinary effort from the captain almost turned the situation in Australia’s favour.
No way! No way Steve Smith! Very good!#ash , #PlayoftheDay , @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/4ziSJChGd4
– cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) 7 December 2025
England once again faltered in achieving a modest target in the second innings.
The British once again faltered in the second innings of the test match. Batting in the first innings, Zak Crawley and Joe Root helped England cross the 300-run mark, but in turn, vital contributions from Jack Wetherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc helped Australia score 500+ runs, without a single batsman breaching the three-figure score.
England were already behind by 177 runs and at one point it looked as if Australia would reach the mark with an innings to spare. After each Australian fast bowler troubled them, England’s top order quickly returned to the pavilion. The only partnership that helped them rebuild was between captain Stokes and Jacques.
However, after Jack’s wicket, Neser overpowered the England captain and also took the final wicket of Brydon Carse to leave England’s innings at 241 with a target of 65 runs.
Michael Neser achieved the feat of taking 5 wickets for the first time in Test cricket.
With his recent performance, Michael Neser took his first 5 wickets. Before this, he had played just 2 Test matches for Australia and took 7 wickets in one match with best figures of 5/56.
However, this time he has taken 6 wickets in the game and achieved his first five-wicket haul, that too with the pink ball in a day/night game, which is an extraordinary effort to pull off. Mitchell Starc scored 77 runs and took 8 wickets in the game.
Also read: “Chances of him completing 100 centuries…” – Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record
