Australia finds themselves on the verge of retaining the Ashes urn as they need to pick eight wickets on the final day of the fourth Test of Ashes 2019 in Old Trafford in Manchester. England lost two quick wickets before the end of day’s play on the fourth day while chasing 383 runs.

Former Australia captain Allan Border feels that if Australia manages to win this Test and retain the Ashes urn, all the credit must go to Steve Smith for his superlative batting. "He's been quite phenomenal and if Australia go on to win this game and retain the Ashes, it's basically been on the back of Smith’s bat,” Border said.

"He's been phenomenal throughout the series and again yesterday, Australia in trouble as usual, top of the order struggling again. He just steadies the ship, and then that remarkable knock and gets them into position to declare and take those two late wickets which puts Australia right in the box seat going into day five,” Border further said.

Steve Smith has scored over 600 runs with the help of two centuries, two fifties and a double century, which he scored in the ongoing Test match. "He's just a different class, it's as simple as that, he looks like he's playing in different conditions. The bowling looks less threatening when he's at the crease. All the other batsmen have really struggled. There's been some good bowling and the pitches have helped the bowlers a fair bit throughout the series ... but when Steve Smith's facing up, it's a different ballgame. He's just been the difference between the two teams to date," Border said.

If England manages to force a draw at Old Trafford, the series, currently tied at 1-1, will go down to the final test with Australian just needing to avoid defeat at The Oval to retain the Ashes.

(Reuters inputs)