BRISBANE, Australia (AP) Stuart Broad is confident England can break its three-decade drought at the Gabba, despite conceding a small first-innings deficit and letting the Australians off the hook on day three of the first Ashes test.
''After three days we're probably the best placed England side (here) for 30 years, aren't we?'' Broad said after stumps on Saturday. ''So if we have a good tomorrow, we set ourselves up in this test match.''
Australia hasn't lost at test at the Brisbane venue since 1988. England hasn't won an Ashes test here since 1986, and some defeats since then have been lopsided. The Australians had a big, 381-run win in Brisbane in 2013-14, setting them on course for a 5-0 series sweep.
The series-opener this time, though, has been a low-scoring, attritional test.
England won the toss and scored 302 and had Australia in strife at 76-4 on day two, but Steve Smith's unbeaten 141 from 326 deliveries lifted the hosts to 328 by late Saturday. Broad took two wickets in the morning session and Jimmy Anderson snared one with the fourth delivery with the new ball, but the Australians rallied and the last three wickets cost England 119 runs.
The second innings started badly for England, which slipped to 17-2 when Josh Hazlewood dismissed Alastair Cook (7) and James Vince (2).
The situation appeared grim when skipper Joe Root was rattled by a short ball from Mitch Starc that cannoned into his helmet. But after being cleared of concussion, Root recovered to be unbeaten on 5 and was batting with Mark Stoneman (19) when England reached 33-2 at stumps.
''Obviously a bit disappointed to lose two wickets but ... it could have been a lot worse,'' Broad said. ''You can so easily lose 4-5 wickets and that's the test match gone in those sessions.
''Actually we're in a lot of control of this game after three days. It's in our hands to bat big tomorrow to get above sort of 250-300 on a final-day pitch.''
Smith accused the English of setting defensive fields to him from the start, preferring to stem the run flow than bowl him out.
But Broad said the way England restricted the usually free-scoring Smith to 14 boundaries and his slowest-ever test century was a good sign for the tourists on a pitch that will deteriorate late.
Besides, he said, if Smith is already thinking about restricted scoring opportunities after just one innings in the series, the thoroughly-devised game plan has been ''perfect.''
