PERTH: England conceded their bowling flaws were savagely exposed as Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh’s relentless batting on day three of the third Test in Perth on Saturday left the tourists praying for rain to salvage their Ashes hopes.

It was a horrendous day for the visitors, who must win or draw in Perth to keep alive their hopes of retaining the urn, but claimed just one wicket all day at a cost of 346 runs.

England assistant coach Paul Farbrace said the weaknesses in the English attack, particularly in foreign conditions, were being cruelly exposed.

“I don’t think we’ve learned anything from today that we didn’t already know,” he said in a sobering assessment. “We don’t have that extra pace, we knew that coming into that series, and we haven’t got the highest quality of magical spin.

“Our bowlers have been very honest ... we’ve got what we’ve got, what can we do?

“There is nothing that has surprised us.”

Farbrace said rookie seamer Chris Overton was being hampered by a ‘cracked rib’, and also conceded the match turned when England lost their last six wickets for just 35 runs in their first innings to squander a potentially huge total.

However, he wouldn’t concede the Ashes defence was over.

Farbrace conceded the English were almost powerless to stop Steve Smith in his current form.

“We’ve tried all sorts, we’ve thought about our plans to him for some time, but we’ve come up against a player in the form of his life playing absolutely fantastically,” Farbrace said.

The closest England came to seeing the back of the star right-hander were two unsuccessful third-umpire reviews after having leg before wicket appeals turned down.

Farbrace said their best plans for the unorthodox Smith weren’t troubling him.

“Every team will talk about where to bowl to him,” he said. “But the way he is playing at the moment, he gets into some awkward positions but he gets his head back into the ball and keeps the bat face open.

“He hits the ball from what seems likes strange positions, but he hits the middle of the bat on a consistent basis.”

Aged only 28, Smith already has 22 centuries to his name from 107 Test knocks.

Only Don Bradman (58 innings) and Sunil Gavaskar (101 innings) have reached 22 Test centuries in fewer innings.

His current Test batting average is also second only to the legendary Bradman.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017