Smith endures tough 24 hours
adelaide — Steve Smith was so worried about a captain’s call that backfired that he needed a sleeping pill to get some rest during the inaugural day-night Ashes Test.
His Australian team was completely in control when Smith made the decision not to enforce a follow-on against England on the third day, a choice that was heavily criticised when England rallied quickly to give themselves an outside chance of an historic comefrom-behind win.
He also dropped a catch, wasted Australia’s two referrals to the TV umpire and didn’t refer an umpiring decision that in hindsight he should have. But just as quickly as the threat emerged, it evaporated on Wednesday when pacemen Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc took five of the six wickets needed to usher Australia to a 120-run win in Adelaide and a 2-0 lead in the bestof-five Test series.
“I had to have a sleeping pill last night. It has been a pretty tough 24 hours if I’m being honest,” Smith said after Australia completed the win with two sessions to spare. “It’s all part of being captain of your country. You have to make difficult decisions and sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision. —