Aussies under pressure to pull Smith out

Jofra arCHEr helped England seize the ashes momentum as australia faced pressure to pull run-machine Steve Smith out of Thursday’s crucial third Test at Headingley.

The second Test at Lord’s finished as a tense draw, with the australians hanging on six wickets down.

But that was not before archer had felled Marnus Labuschagne, who had been drafted in as Test cricket’s first concussion substitute when Smith woke up feeling ‘groggy’ following his blow to the head from England’s debutant fast bowler on Saturday.

Smith insisted he was hopeful of recovering in time for Leeds, with australian captain Tim Paine suggesting it would be ‘pretty hard to stop Smithy walking out next week’.

But a Cricket australia spokesman admitted that the ‘short turnaround to the next Test is not in his favour’.

While the australians maintain that Smith’s injury on Saturday afternoon was handled correctly, Dr Barry o’Driscoll, the former medical adviser to the International rugby Board, told Sportsmail he was ‘shocked’ that Smith had been allowed to resume his innings after undergoing a concussion medical check in the dressing room.

o’Driscoll said: ‘Make no mistake, taking a blow from a Jofra archer bouncer at 90mph is far more damaging than a right hook from the gloved fist of a heavyweight boxer.’

Meanwhile, Peter Brukner, the australian team’s former doctor, said he doubted Smith would recover in time for Headingley.

‘Unless he wakes up without any symptoms on Monday morning, then he won’t make it,’ said Brukner.

Smith’s health was said to have deteriorated between the initial concussion tests performed on Saturday evening and an evaluation yesterday morning.

‘I started to feel a little bit of a headache on Saturday night, probably as the adrenaline got out of my system,’ said Smith.

‘I was able to get a good sleep in, which is somewhat rare for me, but I woke up feeling a little bit groggy and with a headache again.

‘I have been assessed and asked a lot of questions over the last 20 hours or thereabouts. Unfortunately, I declined in the way I felt over that time and that led to me being ruled out.’

Under new rules introduced globally ahead of this series, australia had to apply in writing to the ICC for a concussion substitute.

on the form, Smith’s symptoms were described as ‘headache, dizziness, feeling slowed down, feeling in a fog, doesn’t feel right, drowsiness’.

Just as big a talking point as Smith’s health was the form of archer, who hit several australians during the course of his first Test and picked up five wickets.

asked whether he could have as big an impact on this ashes as australian quick Mitchell Johnson did in 2013-14, England captain Joe root replied: ‘Potentially. one thing it will do is to make australia think about how they’re going to combat him.

‘It’s nice to be stood at slip and not batting against him.

‘He’s very different to the other options we’ve had previously. He makes things happen in a way not many others in world cricket can.

‘Things change quickly in sport. It’s just nice for us to be a in a good place going to Headingley.

‘It was important we gave a really good response this week.’

australia, though, need only to win one of the last three Tests to retain the ashes.

Paine said: ‘If you’d said after two Tests we’d be 1-0 up, we’d have taken that every day of the week.’