Smith laments lack of runs after first Ashes home Test loss for 15 years

Captain Steve Smith said Saturday that Australia had left themselves 60 runs short and could have taken a more aggressive batting approach, after they lost the fourth Test against England for a first home Ashes defeat in 15 years.

England came out on top of a seesawing contest at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, played on a grassy, bowler-friendly deck that made batting treacherous and was all over inside two days.

After being dismissed for 152 in their first innings, Australia managed only 132 in their second to leave England with 175 to chase for victory.

They got over the line with four wickets to spare.

“Obviously, a very quick game,” Smith said.

“I think if we got 50 or 60 more runs across both innings, we might have been there at the end, but, credit to England.

“They came out today and fought really well this morning, didn’t let us get away.”

The victory ended England’s 18-match Test winless streak on Australian soil with an aggressive approach to the run chase by Ben Stokes’s men paying off.

Ben Duckett and Harry Brook, in particular, reverted to the ultra-attacking “Bazball” style pioneered by coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Stokes.

Smith said it was something Australia would review in the wash-up.

“I think the guy with the most success on that wicket was probably Harry Brook, running down the wicket, playing some kind of rogue shots I suppose, and trying to get the bowlers off their lengths that way,” he said.

“You know, whether we could have been a bit more proactive potentially, and played a few more of those. That’s something we’ll talk about.

“But in the end, it’s also tricky to do that. You want to try and dig in for your team sometimes.

“You have to weigh up whether you should have gone harder, or you should have reined it in. And everyone’s different the way they go about it as well.”

Australia had already retained the Ashes after eight-wicket wins in Perth and Brisbane and an 82-victory at Adelaide.

“We’d love to win every game and keep every streak going,” Smith said of England snapping their long winless record in Australia.

“But England played really well today. We probably controlled the first half of the game, all yesterday, and then they came back into play today and took the game away from us.”

Australia lead the series 3-1 with the fifth and final Test starting in Sydney on January 4.