Ashes 2017/18, 5th Test, Day 4: 5 things we learnt from the day
Nathan Lyon sent England into waves of shock with two crucial wickets before the end of day 4 at Sydney. Joe Root's men still trail the hosts by 210 runs at stumps and are four down with an innings defeat appearing more and more a realistic possibility. The captain's defiant 42, however, saved England a few blushes.
Earlier, the Marsh brothers hit beautiful centuries- second of the series for both of them - as Australia racked up a mammoth 649 before declaring and putting England in to bat.
Mitchell Starc immediately sent Mark Stoneman back for a duck before Nathan Lyon ripped one past Alastair Cook and then had Malan trapped in front to reduce them to 4 down. Root and Bairstow stood firm till the end of the day for England.
#5 Mitchell Marsh makes it two
What a series the Marsh brothers are having! Recalled into the Test side amidst scything criticism from all quarters, Mitchell Marsh had the strong backing of Justin Langer, his coach at Perth, who even identified the all-rounder as a future leader. Many would have scoffed at the mere thought of that, but the end of this series not many are questioning his place in the side. anymore
The seam bowling all-rounder has improved with the bat by leaps and bounds and his technique and confidence are there for everyone to see. Despite his natural style of attack taking over every now and then, Marsh was confident enough to grind out a hundred, his second in the series, in a beauty of a batting pitch at SCG.