"England played really well": Steve Smith credits Ben Stokes' side after MCG defeat

Melbourne [Australia], December 27 (ANI): Australia captain Steve Smith admitted that England outplayed them in the Boxing Day Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as the Ben Stokes-led Three Lions defeated the Aussies for the first time since January 2011.
While Australia have already won the five-match Ashes series, having won three Tests on the trot, their wish of handing England a humiliating 5-0 defeat is over now. England defeated Australia by four wickets in the fourth Ashes Test at MCG, registering their first victory on the tour as the series now stands at 3-1. Notably, this is England's first Test win on Australian soil in over 5000 days.
In the match, England opted to bowl first. Josh Tongue's five-wicket haul helped bowl Australia out for 152, before England collapsed to 110, trailing by 42. Australia then struggled again on a difficult pitch, managing just 132 in their second innings, setting England a target of 175. England's chase was steadied by solid partnerships at the top, and despite a late wobble, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith saw them home to a memorable four-wicket victory.
Australia had extended their dominance at home by winning the first three Ashes Tests in a row, stretching their unbeaten streak against England in Australia to 16-0. England's victory in the fourth Test has now brought that run to an end.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Steve Smith said Australia aim to win every match and keep every streak going, but credited England for turning the game around. He noted that strong starts from Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett broke the back of the chase and made the difference in England's victory.
"We'd love to win every game and keep every streak going. But, England played really well today. We probably controlled the first half of the game or yesterday, and then they came back in to play today and took the game away from us. Particularly the way (Zak) Crawley and (Ben) Duckett started, they got them off to a flyer and broke the back of the chase, I suppose, and softened the ball, as I said before, which made a big difference. But we try to win every game we can," Smith said.
Harry Brook played audacious knocks in both of England's innings, playing a crucial hand in the Three Lions' victory on a bowler-friendly wicket. He scored a 34-ball 41 (two fours and two sixes) in the first innings and then scored a 22-ball 18 in the second innings during England's chase.
Smith said Harry Brook was the most successful batter on the difficult pitch, using aggressive shots to disrupt the bowlers' lengths. He added that Australia might discuss being more proactive but noted it was hard to balance aggression with digging in.
"I think the guy with the most success on that wicket was probably Harry Brook. Running down the wicket, playing some kind of rogue shots, I suppose, and trying to get the bowlers off their lengths that way," Smith said.
"Whether we could have been a bit more proactive, potentially, and played a few more of those, that's something we'll talk about. But in the end, it's also a tricky one to do that. You want to try and dig in for your team sometimes. And if we were able to just extend a couple of those partnerships, then maybe the ball would have got a bit softer and played a little easier. We never really got to that point in the game. Both teams getting bowled out inside of 50 overs. So it never really got to the point where it got soft and potentially would have been easier to bat," Smith added. (ANI)