During a series for the urn littered with low-quality cricket, English Jamie Smith managed to find fresh lows.
Smith’s exit during the second day’s play in the final Test against Australia was labelled “a truly awful one to witness” by lead Test Match Special voice Aggers.
Ex-England paceman Steven Finn, speaking on television, remarked it was “completely mindless”.
A Bizarre Passage of Play
As the lunch break neared at the SCG and Australia looking to sneak some overs to hurry along the second new ball, the hosts asked the part-timer Labuschagne to deliver some of his extremely rare gentle seamers.
Smith had progressed to a scratchy 46. His partnership alongside Joe Root – who remained not out on a superb hundred – had added 94.
Australia, without a frontline spinner, were using the part-time off-breaks of Travis Head from the other end.
“We should explain this setting, because it is remarkable,” commented Agnew on Test Match Special. “Marnus Labuschagne usually bowls leg-spin but is being employed as bouncer bowler. And there is not a soul in catching position of the batsman.”
Incredibly, Smith obliged. From the fourth ball he sent down, Smith moved back and tried a flat-batted swipe.
He succeeded in picking out the fielder Boland, the sole fielder in front of square on the off side, at cover point.
‘Filthy’ – The Reaction
In doing so, he succumbed to one of the most staggering dismissals for an English batsman in Test cricket, one that perfectly encapsulates the reckless nature of their loss of the Ashes.
“Goodness no!” exclaimed ex-England fast bowler Agnew. “I’ve watched a lot of cricket and that dismissal is among the very worst I’ve ever witnessed.”
Former spinner Hartley, a Women’s World Cup winner with England back in 2017, chipped in: “That shot was disgusting. Absolutely filthy. It is disgusting.”
Steven Finn, an Ashes winner for England on the 2010-11 tour of Australia, was more scathing: “That’s totally brainless. I cannot believe what I just saw there. That’s going to be an incredibly quiet dressing room for Smith to return to.”
An Unsettled Innings Comes to an End
This concluded an edgy knock from Surrey’s Smith, who could have been dismissed by Cameron Green several times before Labuschagne’s introduction into the attack.
On 22, Smith was caught, only for replays to show Green overstepped. Next ball, Smith edged past keeper Alex Carey and first slip Webster.
Smith also top-edged a Green bouncer over the slips when he had 30 and, on 34, skied a pull shot that narrowly missed mid-on.
A Slump In Form
This latest horror show at the SCG concludes a hugely poor Ashes for Smith, continuing a poor run with the bat which started during the English summer.
After Smith made an astonishing 184 in the second Test against India last July, his average was almost 59. Eight matches since then, it has dropped to 42.
- He has made a fifty just a single time on this tour.
- In the first Test, he did not adapt to the big grounds succumbing to the short ball.
- In Brisbane, his first match with a pink ball, he missed two vital chances as keeper.
- His 60 in the follow-on at Adelaide remains his top score of the series, but he was caught to Starc just when he was giving England a chance of an unlikely run-chase.
Ahead of the Sydney Test he was omitted of England’s limited-overs squads for the upcoming tour to Sri Lanka and the World T20 that follows.
Questions Over His Place
Smith still has the second-best batting average for a wicketkeeper that has kept in a minimum of 20 Tests for his country, but his steep decline of form could raise a doubt over his place for the home summer.
“Jamie Smith is nowhere near the rhythm he needs to be in,” stated ex-skipper Vaughan. “This England team must learn and accept. I read something suggesting he would likely receive a pat on the back for attempting to be aggressive.”
“That is the mindset that is being created in this England side and it is why they have failed on this tour. There are times to get on the front foot but when it is so near the interval and Marnus Labuschagne is bowling short. I cannot accept that. It sums up this England side.”
