Australia's Smith proud to 'step up when it's tough'

Steve Smith was glad to have again made runs when needed them as Australia closed in on retaining the Ashes at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Despite being the dominant side for most of the fourth Test, Australia were faltering at 44-4 in their second innings on Saturday.

But Smith's counter-attacking 82 was the centrepiece of their second-innings total of 186-6 declared, whch left England with an imposing target of 383 to win the Test and keep their hopes of winning the series alive.

"When it is tough you want your experienced players to step up," Smith told reporters after stumps.

"I have played quite a lot of cricket now. I like to get in those situations and try to be the one to take the team through." England's second-innings pursuit suffered an early double setback when Australia's Pat Cummins took two wickets in two balls to remove Rory Burns and captain Joe Root without a run on the board.

England were 18-2 at the close, with Australia requiring just eight more wickets on Sunday's final day to be assured of a win that would see them keep hold of the Ashes at 2-1 up with one to play in a five-Test series.

Smith, who shot a superb 211 in Australia's first innings of 497-8 declared, has now scored 671 runs in five innings this Ashes, at an average of 134.2 and including three hundreds.

It's an incredible return to Test cricket for the 30-year-old former Australia captain, following a 12-month ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Smith added fast bowler Cummins had shown Australia the way on a pitch becoming increasingly tough for batsmen.

"My first 20 or 30 balls, I felt pretty vulnerable when they (England) were bowling that good length," he recalled.

"Patty hit it beautifully tonight, I think that ball to Root is a blueprint of what we need to do tomorrow, first thing in the morning, and the quicks to keep hitting that top of the stump length and let the pitch do its thing."
- 'Anything is possible' -
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