In addition to his speed machines enduring a slowdown and England’s Alastair Cook in imperious nick, Steve Smith experienced a sudden bout of butter fingers on a draining third day for Australia’s main man

You know it has not gone well for Australia when their coach fronts the media at stumps. Bad Day Boof is what it’s called when Darren Lehmann steps in front of the cameras but this was a case of Sad Day Smudge. Steve Smith started the morning with an upset stomach and could only have ended his draining shift in the field feeling worse.

Run ragged by a champion in commanding nick, dropping catches, drawn into increasingly funky fields and, by the end, playing an unwilling game of Protect No11 – this was the sort of afternoon the Australia captain usually inflicts on others.

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Throughout the Ashes, the critique of England with the ball was that they did not have the cattle – nor the speed of hoof, more to the point. On the third day of the fourth Test that became the hosts’ problem. According to CricViz, the home pace trio bowled at an average of 84.5mph, some way slower than the opening day in Perth.

“It was really hard,” Lehmann said. If Pat Cummins found it difficult to generate pace, Jackson Bird had no chance on a surface maintaining its peaceful disposition. He clocked an average 82mph.

Lehmann was instructive with his conclusion it was a pitch for stump-to-stump bowling and reverse swing. But that did not help Bird. “You need the air speed to get the reverse,” the coach said. “And that didn’t happen for him today.” Damning.

It was more than that, of course. The argument for Australia’s success is that it has not been the result of one deadly quick but a relentless assault. Armed with that knowledge, they did not so much signal their strategy as write it on a dossier and slip it under England’s door.

Losing Mitchell Starc, the meanest of their beasts, was always going to change that dynamic. Doubly so given the MCG conditions. It also, as Alastair Cook explained at the end of his magnificent hand, decreased the degree of difficulty by removing what a rapid southpaw offers. “Just that natural variation,” he said. “The balance of attack to have that different angle as a batter messes with your angles. It is quite important.”

Despite the headwinds Australia must have fancied themselves for a lead after Nathan Lyon went to work and Moeen Ali lost his bundle. The response to the England all-rounder (if he can still be called that) was pointed laughter. They had seen this one before. Still 20 runs in the black, they were safe in the knowledge Joe Root’s side had averaged 39 for the final four wickets on this tour.

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But as Lehmann also observed: “You have got to take all your opportunities.” Back to Smith. He does not drop catches. Occasionally a half-chance might drop but not serious ones with his serious hands underpinned by his serious concentration but he was having that kind of day. Eleven runs on from the Moeen calamity, a chance came at midwicket. He went with one hand, should have used two, and Cook was reprieved on 153. That was 87 runs after Smith’s first drop the evening before. “They made us pay,” Lehmann said. Sure did.

No passage of play showed the difference between Perth and Melbourne more than the stay of Stuart Broad. Australia’s captivation with the short ball in this series has been most acute when their old mate is concerned. This time around, they did not have the arsenal to make it work. “We tried to bounce them as much as we possibly could,” Lehmann said.

Bad Day Boof could not have been more complimentary of Cook, acknowledging he has all but batted Australia out of a win. A bad day for a current captain, a career-changing day for a former one. And with that, the whitewash Australia were apparently waltzing towards is more than likely gone as well.