As Australia wobbled to lunch on what could be last day of Ashes 2019, here is the batting statistics of Australian batting unit. Some stunning facts.
Steven Smith has more 4s and 6s (91 + 5 = 96) in the series than the total runs scored by David Warner (95 from 10 innings), his partner in crime during Sandpaper scandal.
Labuschagne, the Concussion Replacement for Smith is the only other Australian batsman to have 50+ average and 300 plus runs.
Australian Openers scored a total of 197 runs from 20 innings. Warner and Harris ended at the bottom of batting averages with 9.5 (10 innings) and 9.66 (6 innings) respectively, while Bancroft ended up with 11 from 4 innings.
Apart from Smith and Labuschagne, no other Australian batsman has managed to average even 30, third best being 27 by Travis Head.
Mathew Wade has an innings of 110 and then 120 from remaining 9 innings, with a one last chance to improve.
With 769 and still the current innings remaining, Smith overtook Alistair Cook (766) for 5th highest runs in an Ashes series with only Bradman (twice), Hammond and Taylor above him.
Going into the last innings of the series, Smith is yet to be dismissed for a score less than 80 in the series, that in itself another incredible record.
In short, England lost the Ashes to Steven Smith, who exhibited the greatest batting performance in a single series in the new millennium. The humongous performance attains a Cult status when we realise the second highest run getter scored less than half of Smith.
Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans