England toil hard but fail to curtail Australia's dominance

Steve Smith is on course for yet another hundred © Getty

England huffed and puffed on the first day of the Boxing Day Test but just couldn't blow down the house of Australia's captain Steve Smith. It was ever thus.

Smith is becoming like one of those annoying salespeople who somehow manage to get your phone number and then won't stop bugging you even if you tell them, ever so politely, to leave you be. Smith has been so ubiquitous in this series - 491 runs so far and on course for his fourth consecutive hundred at the MCG - that England's bowlers may think it preferable to be harassed by cold callers every hour on the hour for the rest of their days than to have to bowl to him anymore.

Yet bowl at him they will have to do tomorrow morning and if they don't get him early with the second new ball, they will likely have to continue their growing acquaintance with his batting. They have already seen far too much of it for their own liking during Smith's hundred in Brisbane and his double century in Perth.

At 28, Smith is a man at the very peak of his powers and is clearly the leading batsman in Test cricket even if Virat Kohli has claims to be the best all-round player in the world. Smith just doesn't look like getting out at the moment and when he does, it comes as a surprise. England simply do not have the bowlers to be able to combat him right now. In this form and in his home conditions, it would be fair to ask whether anyone does.

But one thing that England cannot be faulted for is effort and commitment. Reading this, you will probably argue, rightly, that that should be a given for an international team representing their country. True, but on difficult tours such as this one, things can unravel. One only has to look back to the Ashes series in 2013/14 which led to the sacking of Kevin Pietersen or Australia's 'homework-gate' tour of India in 2013 to see what can go wrong when results go against you.

There were no signs of those types of implosion on an attritional first day at the MCG. After a difficult start, conceding over a hundred runs in the first session, England could have buckled in the face of a David Warner onslaught, a hot Victorian sun and a flat, placid pitch. Yet the tourists fought back excellently with the ball in the middle session to concede just 43 runs in 26 overs. Australia's score of 244-3 might well put them ahead in the game but England pulled things back gamely.

"It was a long day, we didn't start well or adjust to conditions. It was a flat, slow wicket and we bowled too many bad balls and let them get way," James Anderson told BBC after the day's play. "But the way we came back in the second session was very impressive. The pace of the pitch didn't help us, but we stuck to our task well and just didn't get the breaks at the end."

It is often all too easy to criticise well-paid players for lack of effort and commitment. No doubt some of England's supporters will want the whole team sacked for their showing in Australia because it shows a perceived lack of fight as many also deride the country's football players as uncaring mercenaries when they exit the World Cup. It may not be an English thing per se to blame failure on a lack of effort, but we seem to do it rather well in this country.

But today, and during the Ashes series more generally, did not go Australia's way because England have been lacking in effort or haven't been totally committed. Today, all four of England's seam bowlers ran in on a hot day until the very last over. The fielders looked energetic and enthused right up until the close although James Vince was off with the fairies a couple of times. In general, England battled hard for most of the day.

Despite the off-field controversies which have dogged this tour, England remain a very professional squad. They work hard in training, are probably the fittest ever England team and generally toil hard when the going gets tough. It is just that, as today showed, they lack the tools to do the job in these conditions. They don't have extreme pace, they don't have a high quality spinner, they don't have variety in their attack.

Instead, they have to rely on discipline, control and skill but that gets you only so far on flat pitches in Australia. And so it has proven during this series. There is no disgrace in that. There are systemic issues which need to be addressed to give Joe Root and Trevor Bayliss players who are better equipped to deal with these types of surfaces but the commitment of the current group should not be questioned.

If anyone epitomised the desire and effort today it was the debutant Tom Curran who bowled with a lot of heart and determination on a pitch which offered him little. He finished wicket-less from 17 overs although he should have dismissed David Warner on 99 for his first Test wicket. The batsman was called back after replays showed Curran had overstepped the front-foot line.

"There's not a lot you can say in that situation," said Anderson. "To see the elation when he gets one of the best players in the world on debut and then to see the screen, it's tough, it's heartbreaking and you've got to learn the hard way sometimes. To make your debut on a pitch like that is never easy and against a batting line up like that. Tom charged in all day and gave everything."

That he did. As did all England's bowlers. Stuart Broad bowled excellently after some stinging criticism after figures of 0-142 in Perth and Chris Woakes was tireless as ever if slightly more erratic than the others. Anderson was his usual miserly self and got through 21 overs work. In the second session in particular all of England's seamers were outstanding but lacked the pace, the variety, the luck even to deliver the knock-out blow and get rid of Smith early when Australia were teetering.

"The new ball is crucial so hopefully tomorrow bodies will be fresher and we can attack them with the new ball," said Anderson of England's plan for day two. "We know wickets with the new ball are crucial because the pitch will get slower. We were ruthless in the second session and didn't give them much to hit so we need more of that tomorrow."

As they have throughout the whole series, England will come again tomorrow and try their hardest. They may not be good enough in these conditions to beat Australia, but nobody should question their commitment to the cause. Today proved they are still fighting hard.