Australia vs England 3rd Test Day 3: Smith, Marsh punish England to hand Australia 146-run lead

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Steve Smith double century Australia England Ashes cricket

Steve Smith is over the moon after scoring his second double century

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Australia captain Steve Smith and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh made career-best scores of 229 not out and 181 not out to put their side in complete control of the third Ashes Test in Perth.

With Smith passing his hundred towards the beginning of the day, he became the third-fastest player to accumulate 22 Test centuries, needing 108 innings to do so. The two people above Smith on the all-time list are the legendary Don Bradman and Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar, who took 58 and 101 innings respectively.

Starting off the day on 203/3, Australia added 45 runs to their overnight score before Shaun Marsh was caught by England captain Joe Root at slip off the bowling of Moeen Ali for 28.

However, that was to be England’s only taste of success for the rest of the day as Smith and Mitchell Marsh tormented them with an unbeaten 301-run partnership, during which Smith sailed past his double century and Marsh his hundred.

England tried to do everything in their power to end the stand, but it was no use and soon enough, Australia took the lead.

With the scoreboard ticking along at a healthy rate for Australia, they ended up taking a 146-run lead before England were finally put out of their misery when stumps was called.

Smith finished on 229 off 390 balls, which included 28 boundaries and a six, while Marsh remained undefeated on 181 off 234 deliveries, which included 29 boundaries.

Craig Overton was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets, while Moeen and Chris Woakes claimed one wicket each.

Australia ended day three on 549/4 and will continue batting on Sunday at 10:30 local time or 02:30 GMT.

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