Australia vs England 4th Test at Melbourne, 25 Dec, 2017

Toss: Australia, who chose to bat
Australia 327/10 (119)  &  263/4 (124.2)
England 491/10 (144.1)
Match drawn
Man of the Match: AN Cook
  • Mitchell Marsh 29 * (166)
  • Steven Smith 102 * (275)

Over 69.3 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and pushes it back to the bowler.

Over 69.4 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets cover the off stump line and shoulders arms to let it go.

Over 69.5 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and defends it towards mid on.

Over 69.6 Joe Root bowls a quicker arm ball to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets back in the crease and defends it down the pitch carefully.

Over 71.1 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and turns it to short mid wicket.

Over 71.2 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and pushes it straight to cover.

Over 71.3 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and went hard at it. Hit the hard and hit the silly point fielder.

Over 71.4 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, comes on to the front foot and plays it back to the bowler.

Over 71.5 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and driven straight back to the bowler.

Over 71.6 Joe Root bowls a tossed up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs,  comes down the track and gets too close to the pitch. Mistimes the drive and Root moves to his right and stops

Over 72.4 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, Boundary! Gets forward and played with soft hands and hence the outside edge rolled through the cordon. Marsh was a bit squared up there. Goes through the gap between slips and gully

Over 72.5 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and watches it along go through to the keeper.

Over 72.6 JM Anderson bowls a pitched up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and pushes it towards short cover.

Over 74.1 JM Anderson bowls a pitched up delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and defends it towards mid off.

Over 74.2 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets inside the line and defends it on the off side.

Over 74.3 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and let it go outside off through to the keeper.

Over 74.4 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, comes on to the front foot and blocks it towards mid off.

Over 74.5 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets back in the crease and turns it towards mid wicket.

Over 74.6 JM Anderson good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, gets forward and watches it along go through to the keeper.

Over 75.4 SCJ Broad bowls a back of length delivery to SPD Smith, no runs, goes deep in the crease and tucked towards mid-wicket

Over 75.5 SCJ Broad good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, no runs, comes on to the front foot and pushes it left of mid off.

Over 75.6 SCJ Broad good length delivery to Shaun Marsh, out Caught by Bairstow!! Marsh could have let that go. He doesn't and dangles his bat to have a feel for it and gets a thick outside edge. Bairstow picked it late and did well to hold onto it with his left glove.

That is Lunch on Day 5.Australia lead by 14 runs with 6 wickets in hand

Alastair Cook is the Man of the Match

Steve Smith: Nice to have finished off well and get the boys a draw at the end. I thought Mitch played really well, eating up 160 balls for his 30-odd did a good job to get us to a draw. Yesterday afternoon when it started raining, and the pitch was really slow and that is when we thought of going for the draw. The pitch was really slow and though there was a bit of reverse, it was difficult to get poeple out. It was a nice wicket to bat on and not get out but was difficult to score. (On Cook) Everytime you get 200 you have played well. He cut and pulled really well and put anything of his pads to the boundary. He stuck to the basics and when you get in it is difficult to get out on a surface like this. SCG is a great place to play, can't wait to play on my homeground.
Joe Root: We did have a great chance at lunch and we did everything we could to take things forward. Credit to Steve and team, they played superbly. Not a very responsive pitch and that makes things harder. We exhausted every option and the pitch didn't help us at all. Throughout the five days we had tremendous support from the Barmy Army. We have the best fans in the world. He's (Smith) certainly playing well and is very difficult to get him out on a wicket like this. Hopefully we can get in different plans for him for Sydney. It is frustrating that it has taken this long to get a performance such as this one. It could've been a lot easier coming in 3-0 and looking lost. But I am proud of the boys and the performance they have put in.

Alastair Cook, Man of the Match

Steve Smith: Nice to have finished off well and get the boys a draw at the end. I thought Mitch played really well, eating up 160 balls for his 30-odd did a good job to get us to a draw. Yesterday afternoon when it started raining, and the pitch was really slow and that is when we thought of going for the draw. The pitch was really slow and though there was a bit of reverse, it was difficult to get poeple out. It was a nice wicket to bat on and not get out but was difficult to score. (On Cook) Everytime you get 200 you have played well. He cut and pulled really well and put anything of his pads to the boundary. He stuck to the basics and when you get in it is difficult to get out on a surface like this. SCG is a great place to play, can't wait to play on my homeground.
Joe Root: We did have a great chance at lunch and we did everything we could to take things forward. Credit to Steve and team, they played superbly. Not a very responsive pitch and that makes things harder. We exhausted every option and the pitch didn't help us at all. Throughout the five days we had tremendous support from the Barmy Army. We have the best fans in the world. He's (Smith) certainly playing well and is very difficult to get him out on a wicket like this. Hopefully we can get in different plans for him for Sydney. It is frustrating that it has taken this long to get a performance such as this one. It could've been a lot easier coming in 3-0 and looking lost. But I am proud of the boys and the performance they have put in.