Ashes 2017/18, 4th Test: Hits and misses

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Riding on Alastair Cook's Herculean effort, England were hoping to claim a morale-boosting win, but, the visitors had to settle for a draw as Steven Smith batted throughout the final day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday to save the fourth Test.

The Australian skipper batted for more than seven hours to take his team out of troubled waters as the hosts retained their 3-0 series lead.

England, who have not won a Test Down Under since 2011, broke their eight-match losing streak and ended Australia's chances of earning a second successive home whitewash.

The series finale starts at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 4.

As another Steven Smith masterclass denied England their first win of the series, now, let's have a look at the hits and misses from the fourth Test.

Hit: David Warner

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Australia vice-captain David Warner scripted history as he scored a stylish 103 on the first day of the Boxing Day Test and became the fifth fastest to reach 6,000 Test runs in terms of matches played (70) and the third fastest in terms of days (2218).

Interestingly, no Australian player has reached 6,000 Test runs quicker since Sir Donald Bradman in terms of matches played and Warner is now second only to the legend.

Warner continued his fine form in the second innings too as he scored 86 runs but fell 14 runs short of becoming the first player in history to score twin centuries in four Tests.

Warner looked set to surpass Ricky Ponting and Sunil Gavaskar for the record of most twin centuries in Test cricket before being undone by England skipper Joe Root.

Miss: Cameron Bancroft

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It seems that the time is running out for Cameron Bancroft, who nudged Matt Renshaw out of the picture and became the first opener to debut in an Ashes series since Michael Slater in 1993.

The 25-year-old, Gloucestershire player's technique got exposed, particularly against the short ball, as he failed to impress in his high-profile debut series.

David Warner's 10th opening partner in Test cricket, Bancroft, has scored 179 runs at an average of 29.83 in the series, raising questions about his positioning and technique.

With the important tour of South Africa starting in March, Bancroft will have to score big in the final Ashes Test at the SCG in order to remain in contention for the upcoming crunch series.

Miss: Moeen Ali

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England might not have won the fourth Ashes Test but they got a lot of things and right at the MCG and managed to salvage some pride after losing the series to Australia.

Even Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad managed to turn their fortunes around as the action shifted from Perth to Melbourne but Moeen Ali could not find any respite whatsoever.

Ali could not claim even a single Australian wicket at the MCG as he continued to remain totally ineffective as a bowler and a batsman too.

Ali had gone wicketless in the second Test at Adelaide as well, while he gave away 120 runs in 33 overs and claimed just one wicket in the third Test at WACA.

Riddled with injuries, Ali was dismissed for the 6th time by Nathan Lyon in the series and his problems against the short ball have been exposed by Australia's high-quality pace attack.

Hit: Steven Smith

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Australia skipper Steven Smith seems to be unstoppable in the Ashes 2017/18 series as he scored yet another ton and proved that he is the best Test batsman in the world right now for a reason.

From six innings the ongoing series, Smith has already passed 600 runs and scored three tons. Only one Australian, Sir Donald Bradman, has hit four in an Ashes series.

The Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was the 30th of Smith's career as a captain and he has scored tons in 15 of them.

Smith's 23rd Test ton, which was one of his most patient innings, was also his eighth Ashes ton, drawing him level with Ricky Ponting, Greg Chappell and Arthur Morris.

Hit: Alastair Cook

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Former England skipper Alastair Cook finally came good at Melbourne, after a string of poor performances, as he scored 244 to guide the visitors to the first-innings total of 491.

In his 10 innings prior to the one at the MCG, Cook had scored just 144 runs.

Cook, who became the first England opener to carry his bat since Michael Atherton against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1997, leapfrogged Mahela Jayawardene, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara to claim the sixth spot on the list of all-time leading run-scorers in Test cricket.

Cook scored his 32nd Test ton and became the first England batsman to register eleven 150-plus scores in the longest format of the game.

The knock that ended the 33-year-old's barren run in the ongoing Ashes series, was his biggest against Australia and the third biggest knock of his career.

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Edited by Tanya Rudra