Steve Smith's dismissal of Jack Leach reminded me of Michael Clarke against India: Mike Hussey
Stuart Broad, Jack Leach and Jimmy Anderson helped England play out a dramatic draw in the 4th Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground with some rearguard resistance today. The thrilling match had its fair share of drama at the very end.
After Jonny Bairstow fell, England had 11 overs to negotiate with two wickets in hand. Leach and Broad batted out a majority and the visitors looked on course to save the match. But with three overs to go, the umpires decided Australia couldn't bowl their pacers any more due to bad light.
Australia captain Pat Cummins picked Steve Smith to bowl in tandem with Nathan Lyon. Off the last delivery of his first over, Smith managed to get Leach to edge to slip, leaving his team a wicket away from victory.
Smith's first Test wicket since 2016! #Ashes https://t.co/2pZKzpZaL3
Broad and Anderson, however, played out an over each and the match ended in a draw. Former Australia batter Mike Hussey said that Smith's dismissal of Leach reminded him of the time when Michael Clarke took three wickets in an over to secure a late win against India at the same venue.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Hussey said:
"It actually reminded me of a few years ago when Michael Clarke came on in a Test match and took two or three late wickets against India. It had that feel about it when he got Jack Leach out. I thought, is he going to spin his magic and spin Australia to a famous victory?"
Anil Kumble had batted out over a 100 deliveries at the SCG in 2011 to put India minutes on the brink of a draw.
However, Clarke was given a spell late on and in his second over, dismissed Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma to bowl India out and power Australia to victory.
But Smith was not able to spin his way past James Anderson, who played out the final over from the part-time leggie.
"But England were able to hang on. All the experience of Jimmy Anderson. It was phenomenal," Hussey said of the last over.
wicket remaining 
The series was over in the third Test itself, but, the fourth Test was no less than a thriller, which England managed to DRAW, with just 1️⃣ wicket remaining 👏
Nothing comes close to the beauty of Test Cricket 🤩
#Australia #England #AUSvENG #Ashes https://t.co/AZluY0MtjB
Jack Leach is a fighter, he will scrap all the way to the death: Mike Hussey
Mike Hussey was all praise for Jack Leach after the Englishman helped defy the Australian attack.
He said Leach is a fighter who never gives his wicket away cheaply.
"He's a fighter. He's got gumption. He's not going to throw it away. He's going to hang in there and scrap all the way to the death."
Hussey recalled the Headingley match from the 2019 Ashes series, when Leach hung on at one end as Ben Stokes played out his epic knock.
"We have seen it before. You think back to when Ben Stokes played that amazing innings in Headingley against Australia a few years ago. Who was at the other end for a long period of time? It was Jack Leach."