Is Steve Smith Wagner’s bunny?
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Could Steve Smith weakness after all?
The Australian batting maestro has been compared to the great Sir Don Bradman such are his startling numbers, but perhaps New Zealand have shown a way to fluster the runplundering right-hander.
Smith has a stunning test average of 63.75, but despite his team dominating in the first test against the Black Caps in Perth, he has been kept quiet at the crease, and has twice fallen victim to the Neil Wagner short ball.
In the first innings the former skipper struggled for timing and eventually eked out 43 off 164 balls, before being caught at leg gully.
Then, with his side building a huge lead on Saturday night, it was the same bouncer trap which saw his downfall, as Wagner roughed him up, then had him out for 16, pulling to deep square leg.
It’s a continuation of Wagner’s dominance over Smith, having also dismissed him (albeit on 138) caught at deep square with a short ball in their only previous test meeting – at Christchurch in 2016.
Smith was not out in the second innings of that game, so it means Wagner has him three out of three in the times he’s been dismissed in games against New Zealand.
Only former Sri Lanka leftarm spinner Rangana Herath has a better dismissals per match strike-rate against Smith in test cricket – with five wickets in three games – during their series in Sri Lanka in 2016.
Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum – whose final test was that one against Smith in just have a
Christchurch – noted to SEN that the Kiwis had found way against the run machine.
‘‘He has been challenged by Neil Wagner with the short ball, and both times he has come up short,’’ he said.
On Fox Cricket, former Australia international Mark Waugh
aacknowledged ‘‘the trap was set and he fell into it’’.
Fellow commentator Mark Howard asked if it would form a new approach for teams bowling to Smith. In response, former Aussie spinner Kerry O’Keeffe said he ‘‘will be assaulted’’ every time he goes out to bat, but backed him to find the answers.
‘‘Leg slip immediately as he walks in, around the wicket at his hip and lots of short stuff, because he is the modern day Bradman and Bodyline was introduced to thwart the Don, and Steve Smith will be assaulted every time he goes out to bat,’’ O’Keeffe said.
‘‘He’ll find a way, he has throughout his career but it gives bowlers a hope that a guy averaging 63 in test cricket, that there’s a chink there.’’
Smith wasn’t the only one to fall to the bouncer, with David Warner, Joe Burns and Travis Head all also taken down thanks
D Warner c and b Wagner .............................. 43 J Burns lbw b de Grandhomme ..................... 9 M Labuschagne b Wagner ........................... 143 S Smith c Southee b Wagner ........................ 43 M Wade b Southee .............................................. 12 T Head c Santner b Southee ......................... 56 T Paine c Watling b Southee ......................... 39 P Cummins b Raval ............................................ 20 M Starc c Williamson b Southee ................. 30 N Lyon c de Grandhomme b Wagner ......... 8 J Hazlewood not out ........................................... 0 Extras (2b, 1lb, 8w, 2nb) ..................................... 13 Total ......................................................................... 416 Bowling: T Southee 30.2-7-93-4, L Ferguson 11-1-47-0, N Wagner 37-7-92-4, C de Grandhomme 22-8-37-1, M Santner
33-5-111-0, J Raval 13-1-33-1.
Fall: 40, 75, 207, 225, 301, 325, 363, 408,
416, 416.
D Warner c sub (Blundell) b Southee ........ 19 J Burns c Nicholls b Southee ........................ 53 M Labuschagne c Santner b Wagner ....... 50 S Smith c Raval b Wagner ................................ 16 M Wade not out ...................................................... 8 T Head c de Grandhomme b Southee ........ 5 T Paine b Southee ................................................. 0 P Cummins not out ................................................ 1 Extras (3lb, 7w, 5nb) ............................................ 15 Total (for 6wkts) ................................................ 167 Bowling: T Southee 19-6-63-4, C de Grandhomme 13-2-26-0, N Wagner 17-2-40-2, M Santner 8-0-35-0.
Fall: 44, 131, 148, 154, 160, 160.
J Raval b Hazlewood ............................................. 1 T Latham c & b Starc ........................................... 0 K Williamson c Smith b Starc ........................ 34 R Taylor c Smith b Lyon .................................. 80 H Nicholls c Paine b Starc .................................. 7 N Wagner b Starc .................................................. 0 BJ Watling b Cummins ........................................ 8 C de Grandhomme c Smith b Starc ........... 23 M Santner b Labuschagne ................................ 2 T Southee c sub b Lyon ...................................... 8 L Ferguson not out .............................................. 0 Extras (1b, 2lb) .......................................................... 3 Total .................................... .................................... 166 Bowling: M Starc 18-2-52-5, J Hazlewood
1.2-1-0-1, P Cummins 14.4-3-46-1, M Wade
2-0-8-0, N Lyon 14.2-2-48-2, M Labuschagne 5-1-9-1.
Fall: 1, 1, 77, 97, 97, 120, 147, 155, 166, 166.
to the short-pitched attack.
Australia finished day three on 167-6 in their second innings, leading by 417.