Steve Smith shows his class as Australia battle back against England

England 403, Australia 203-3: Australia's skipper was at his imperious best after England had earlier collapsed from a strong position overnight

Steve Smith was at his effortless best as he led Australia's fightback in Perth (Getty)

Australia’s day, one that leaves match and series tantalisingly poised. England passed up the opportunity to carve out an unassailable position in the game, and were punished for it in the evening session by Australia’s batsmen. And increasingly, it feels like the fate of this game - and thus these Ashes - will rest on the wicket of one man.

If Dawid Malan’s century on day one was drenched in sweat and courage, Steve Smith’s unbeaten 92 was its polar opposite - one that seemed almost disdainfully effortless, achieved in a whip-quick 122 balls without offering so much as a chance. On a pitch that retained much of the quickness of day one, Smith cut and drove superbly, riding the slightly uneven movement, pumping the score onwards even as England chipped in with the odd wicket.

Eighteen overs remain to be bowled on the third morning before Joe Root can take the second new ball, and if Smith is still around at the end of them, England may well find their position in the game becoming less and less stable. And they may have to play the rest of the game without Craig Overton, who dismissed both Australian openers before hobbling off the pitch with a sore rib.

Ultimately, however, if England do lose this match they will see this as the day where they handed it over. Three catches went down in the Australian innings - none simple, all gettable. But by far the defining passage of play came in the second half of the morning session, when the untroubled progress of Malan and Jonny Bairstow - who reached his fourth Test century - gave way to yet another entirely avoidable lower-order collapse.

This time it was the last six wickets for just 35 runs, as England slipped from the warm security of 368-4 to 403 all out in less than an hour. In so doing, a chance to make the game safe - and avert the possibility of a whitewash - was passed up.

The frustration was that Malan and Bairstow had done everything asked of them early on. They eased their way into the day, 20 minutes passing before the first run was scored, seeing off the opening burst from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Then, once set, they accelerated. Fifty runs came in seven overs, as well as a host of semi-significant records: England’s highest 5th-wicket partnership in Australia, their highest 5th-wicket partnership in the Ashes, their highest for any wicket at the Waca.

Along the way, Bairstow reached his first Ashes century with a leap into the air, a punch of the fist and a gaze to the heavens in memory of his late father. He had played understudy to Malan on day one, but now he took the lead, greeting Cummins with a pair of gorgeous cover drives and passing three figures with a pull to long leg. The helmet came off, and to the mirth of the England dressing room, Bairstow promptly headbutted it in celebration.


 Dawid Malan walks off the field after making a career-best 140 
 (Getty)

Blessed was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be England was very heaven. The runs were flowing as if from a tap. Cummins was almost limping to the crease. Mitchell Marsh was brought on for an early bowl and struggled with his line. Nathan Lyon was being milked like a goat. For the first time, England’s strategy of grinding down the Australian attack over long periods looked like more than a fanciful aspiration. It felt giddy, idyllic, almost illicitly so. The sun was out, the bat was dominating and England could score as many as they wanted.

Suddenly, England were rudely awoken from their Arcadian, pastel-coloured reverie. It all seemed to happen in slow motion: Lyon finally getting one to bite, Malan trying to hit it out of the ground, the ball skewing high into the air towards backward point, where substitute fielder Peter Handscomb took a magnificent diving catch. Malan dragged himself slowly from the field. He had scored 140. He may never score more. He may never get a better chance.


 Jonny Bairstow points to the sky in memory of his late father after reaching his century 
 (Getty)

And just like that, England were plunged from one dream into another, this one darker, more vivid and filled with menacing shadows. Moeen Ali fended to second slip for a second ball duck. Chris Woakes glanced one straight into the hands of fine leg. Bairstow, trying to push the rate, tried to work Starc into the on-side and lost his middle stump. Overton offered a simple catch to short leg. Stuart Broad hooked one magnificent six to scrape England past 400, but when he ran across his stumps and tried to ramp Starc over his head, he simply lobbed the ball straight up in the air.

England’s capitulation had lasted 48 minutes. Root would certainly have taken 403 if you had offered it to him at the toss. But England could have made the game safe. And the series-shifting momentum that Malan and Bairstow had painstakingly built up over five hours had been entirely lost.


 Bairstow even had time to headbutt his helmet after passing three figures 
 (Getty)

Australia started strongly. Cameron Bancroft plays his state cricket at the Waca, David Warner averages 89 here, and for the first hour they looked ominously comfortable, leaning into the ball and extracting full value for their shots. But a drinks break brought the breakthrough: Warner, caught behind off Overton, who is developing a happy habit of conjuring the wickets of settled batsmen.

Three balls later, Overton flew to his left to try and grab a leading edge off the bat of Usman Khawaja, only to painfully jar his left rib in the process. The significance of this moment was not evident until Overton, having also got Bancroft out LBW, broke down in the middle of an over to Smith, clutching the same area that Pat Cummins had hit so painfully in Adelaide. Although he struggled through three more balls, he went off after that.


 David Warner was removed for just 22 
 (Getty)

If England are indeed now a four-man attack, you fear for them. Woakes, a kiss-the-surface operator at his best, ended up falling passionately, tumultuously in love with the bounce, and ended up pitching it about two feet too short. Broad, meanwhile, eased Australia into the evening session with a diet of fading long hops. Anderson was tidy but largely unthreatening.

Moeen bowled exactly as you would expect a man who has had a poor series with the ball, been demoted in the batting order and and just made a second-ball duck to bowl. There was a despair there, a certain self-doubt, a lack of conviction, and Australia could smell it on him like fried onions.

Little by little, Australia were seizing the initiative. Woakes induced Khawaja into edging at a nice height to second slip. Root didn’t react. You wonder if he even saw it. The ball simply flew past him, like an out-of-service bus. What was on his mind? Who to bowl next? Whether fine leg needed to come a little finer? What is certain is that against a clear blue sky, a good distance from the bat, and with England desperate for a wicket, there could be no excuses.


 Steve Smith oozed class as he effortlessly moved within reach of yet another century 
 (Getty)

Woakes eventually got his man, nipping one back from around the wicket to trap Khawaja one ball after he had reached his half-century. And England managed to maintain a certain measure of control as the day wound down, Shaun Marsh taking 18 balls to get off the mark. But it could have been better still: with Moeen bowling, Marsh turned the ball onto Stoneman’s boot at short leg, only for Stoneman and Bairstow to both get in each other’s way as they tried to grab the rebound.

Chances missed, but at least England were creating them. That will be their encouragement going into day three. The cracks in the pitch are beginning to open up, with one ball from Overton grubbing straight along the ground, another rearing up and dealing Smith an agonising blow on the hand just before tea.

Meanwhile, England’s lower-order collapse offers hope that they can induce a similar panic in the Australian tail. Rain is forecast for the weekend, bringing the draw into play. These are the straws to which they must clutch as they try to regain the advantage in this game. England have had one bad day in Perth. Their Ashes campaign will not last another.