Milne stars in England T20
on him soon. In the 2017-18 series, Smith struck 687 runs and three centuries. Already this time he has 286 and two hundreds.
A measure of Bradman’s supremacy is that he scored 974 in the five-test 1930 series, 758 four years later and 680 in 1946-47. He claimed 19 test hundreds in England compared to Smith’s 10. But there is plenty of time still for Smith, who has the second highest test average of all time and is still only 30.
Uncomfortable ‘‘watching cricket’’ – the desire to be out there burns too strongly – Smith defied England’s desperate appeals, funky field placings, Stuart Broad’s stubbornness and Moeen’s Ali’s frantic efforts to control his arm. The first batsman Injury niggles ruined his dream of playing back to back Cricket World Cups, but Black Caps fast bowler Adam Milne is making up for lost time in England.
Milne starred with bat and ball to guide his Kent Spitfires team to a four-wicket victory over Hampshire in the Vitality Blast Twenty20 competition yesterday.
It helped launch the Spitfires to the top of the South Group with six wins from seven matches.
Sharing the new ball with Afghanistan’s spin bowling allrounder Mohammad Nabi,
Milne took 3-21 to help dismiss
Hampshire for 135 at Beckenham.
Then with Kent making hard work of their chase, Milne strode out at No 8 and cracked 12 not out off four balls to guide them home with one ball to spare.
Milne has played all seven matches and taken eight wickets at an average of 22 and economy rate of 7.22 in an impressive return to England, with the Spitfires showing themselves to be genuine title contenders.
The 27-year-old has 40 one-day internationals and 21 T20 internationals to his name and last played for the Black Caps against Pakistan in Dubai in November.
since Matthew Hayden in 2002 to score two centuries in an Ashes test has shaped this match in his image, frazzling England’s minds and laying down a threat for Lord’s, Old Trafford, Headingley and the Oval.
The Ashes are a thing of many moving parts, often dominated by duos and trios but seldom won by a single messiah. Steve Waugh spoke of the trance-like state Smith is capable of attaining.
In that mode, on 93, he swaggered down the pitch and shrugged dismissively at Ben Stokes, who stared, hands on hips, bemused. Wherever Smith is in his head, England cannot reach him.
– The Telegraph, London