SMITH TURNED INTO A CLOWN
STEVE SMITH is supposed to be Australian cricket’s ‘Goldenballs’, but on day two in Melbourne he was more Coco the Clown.
Everything Smith had done in the series up to now had worked out beautifully whether it was his batting, his slip-fielding or his captaincy.
He has laughed his way through these Ashes and, even when it looked like he had made a mistake by not enforcing the follow-on in Adelaide, he still ended up with a winner’s grin.
But on day two at the MCG, a ground where he had not been dismissed since 2014, others were doing the laughing as he somehow chopped a rank, wide long hop on to his stumps to fall to debutant Tom Curran.
Later in the day, Alastair Cook had battled to get to 66 and found some form, but when Mitch Marsh found his edge for a simple catch, Smith (above) put the chance down at slip.
“Good on ya, Butterfingers!” came the shout from the crowd.
To cap it all off, with Cook on 93 and just one over to come in the day, Smith brought himself on to bowl his part-time leggies, serving up a full toss and a long hop to gift the England man his ton before the close.
Well played, Goldenballs!