Smith back to bolster Aussies
London: Of the millions of Australians still struggling to process Ben Stokes’s brutal Headingley rampage and wondering what is next in an enthralling Ashes series now level at 1-1, spare a thought for Steve Smith.
Emotive and eccentric, Smith wears his heart on his sleeve in good times and bad while struggling to stay still - with the noted exception of a bowler’s release point.
Smith is expected to return from concussion in a Derby tour game on Thursday then resume his battle with England in the fourth test, which starts at Old Trafford next Wednesday.
“I know last week at Lord’s he said he was screaming at the TV from his hotel room, watching the final hour,” Pat Cummins said. “He seems OK, I’m not sure how he was watching (during the game).”
The three-day clash with Derbyshire will likely decide which batsman makes way for Smith, with Marnus Labuschagne now entrenched in the XI after top-scoring for threestraight innings.
“We were right on top (in Leeds) and we’ve got the world’s best batter coming in for the next one,” Cummins said.
“It’s going to be great for him to be back.” Cummins, who suggested he feels “really good” and still harbours hope of playing all Steve Smith. five Tests in this series, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson are certainties to sit out the game in Derby.
Mitchell Starc, in the mix to return to the test arena next week, will be among the bowlers out to impress selectors this week.
“I’m sure he’ll be bowling pretty fast ... he’ll be one to keep an eye on,” Cummins said. Smith’s enforced omission in Leeds was a big tick for Cricket Australia’s concussion policy, given he is the nation’s best batsman since Don Bradman and it was a such a highstakes contest.
It was also an obvious blow to the tourists’ hopes of a victory that would guarantee they’d become the first Australian squad to retain the urn in England since 2001. Labuschagne, playing in place of Smith, scored 154 runs.
There are far too many sliding doors involved to speculate what might have happened if Smith played at Headingley but his sage tactical advice regarding fields, reviews, bowling changes and plans on a frantic fourth day would have been handy if nothing else. A half chance offered by Stokes in Sunday’s morning session may well have been snapped up by the former skipper; although David Warner’s efforts in the cordon were superb and included a screamer to dismiss Joe Root. - AAP Lyon fumbled a simple chance to run out Jack Leach with England two runs short of victory, while Paine’s poor use of DRS continued, meaning Australia had no opportunity to review when the off-spinner thought he had Stokes lbw in the closing minutes of the match.
There is no love lost between the England team and Lyon, who enjoys a sledge and delivered an extraordinary pre-series rant in 2017/18 in which he said he wanted to “end careers”.
Pace bowler Cummins said of the Lyon runout chance: “I probably didn’t help him out with the throw there - it could have been a bit better - but you just want to win so desperately and the emotion gets to everyone slightly differently.
“Gaz (Lyon) wears his heart on his sleeve, so we’ve got to get around him, but I think the next ball he bowled after that was three reds (on Hawkeye for the LBW shout against Stokes), so on another day he’s the matchwinner.
“It’s that fine a line. If you lived and died by a win and a loss, you’d be out of this business pretty quickly.”
With regards to his skipper Paine, Cummins said: “He’s been brilliant. He walked into the changing room and said, ‘It’s 1-1, it’s all good’. There are two matches to go. “Bowlers, him as a captain, we all make decisions and you reflect on what you could have done differently. When you look at it, a couple of catches, maybe a run out. “When a batsman [Stokes] comes out like that, you have to just say well done.” England were given a further boost by the news that James Anderson is playing for Lancashire Seconds against their Durham counterparts at Chester Boughton Hall from Tuesday. - London Evening Standard