Smith wants to be 'the one to take the team through'

'I think when it is tough, you want your experienced players to step up.'

Australia batsman Steve Smith says he likes to get into tough situations and be the player on whom the team can count upon.

"I think when it is tough, you want your experienced players to step up. I have played quite a lot of cricket now, so I like to get into those situations and be the one to take the team through," the International Cricket Council quoted Smith as saying on Saturday.

The 30-year-old continued his magical run with the bat as he scored 82 runs in the second innings of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford on Saturday. The former Australia captain is having an exceptional series -- having amassed 671 runs in three games so far and has become the second-fastest batsman to register 26 Test centuries.

In the first innings of the Old Trafford Test, he scored a double ton, enabling Australia to post 497 on the board.

The team then bundled out England for 301 to gain a lead of 196 runs.

In the second innings, Australia was in a spot of bother at 44/4, but Smith hit a brisk half-century to rally the visitors to 186/6 before they declared their innings, setting England a target of 383 runs.

Pacer Pat Cummins got two breakthroughs in the first over sending Rory Burns and Joe Root back to the pavilion. Cummins bowled a perfect in-swinger to dismiss Root and Smith said Aussies would try to come out with such deliveries on the fifth and final day to continue their victory push, which will help them seal the series.

"I think that ball to Root is a blueprint of what we need to do. If they do that again and hit the top of the stumps, that same length as the Root ball, hopefully, we can see a lot of bowled, LBWs and caught behind the wickets," he said.

England will resume the final day later today at 18/2. Currently, the series is levelled at 1-1.