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- Oct 2, 2004
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- 217,751
After Ben Stokes blazed up the Ashes on the final day of the third Test at Headingley, the fourth match in Manchester could be as hot. Jimmy Anderson and Steve Smith are likely to return from injury: England’s best bowler and Australia’s best batsman. Smith will renew his duel with young pace sensation Jofra Archer, who could challenge for Anderson’s title sooner rather than later.
Smith will first play in a tour match against Derbyshire after Archer concussed him with a short ball during the second Test. Their battle in the fourth will be at least as anticipated as whatever Stokes does next. But ahead of time, Smith was in no mood to be deferential to his opponent.
“There’s been a bit of talk that he’s got the wood over me, but he hasn’t actually got me out,” said Smith of Archer. “He hit me on the head on a wicket that was a bit up and down at Lord’s. All the other bowlers have had more success against me, I daresay. I’ve faced them a bit more, but they’ve all got me out a lot more.”
As for a short-ball attack, Smith replied archly. “If they’re bowling up there it means they can’t nick me off, or hit me on the pad or hit the stumps. With the Dukes ball – I don’t know, that’s an interesting ploy.”
Smith certainly didn’t back away that day at Lord’s, repeatedly hooking Archer before one kept low and hit him on the side of the neck. There was alarm as Smith fell forward onto his face, like when batsman Phillip Hughes was fatally hit on the back of his neck during a domestic match in 2014. It wasn’t only onlookers who thought of that moment.
“I had a few things running through my head, particularly where I got hit,” said Smith. “That was probably the first thing I thought about. Then I was like, ‘I’m OK here’. I was a bit sad, but I was alright mentally for the rest of that afternoon.”
Smith’s concussion has started a broader conversation around safety. While making the point that a neck protector would not have prevented his injury, Smith said that he would have to get over his sense of claustrophobia when wearing one on the assumption that they would soon become mandatory.
As for the fact that he initially resumed his innings before being diagnosed the next day with concussion, he noted the complexity of such situations. “I felt pretty good, passed all my tests and was able to go and bat and then it wasn’t until later that evening that it hit me.
“As we’ve seen this series there have been so many head knocks already. Marnus [Labuschagne] has been hit a few times, Jos [Buttler] got hit at one point, Stokesy’s been hit. If you’re ruling people out from just hits every now and again we won’t have a game.”
Once his concussion was confirmed, a cautious medical route saw him miss the third Test. “It was a bit of a slow process, you’ve got to tick off a few different boxes, so I had to get through a brisk walk on the first morning of the game. I did some running on the treadmill… and was OK, so I progressed into some high-speed running, and faced a few of the flickers, and then faced bowlers. [I faced] Mitch Marsh and [Michael] Neser in the nets, so reasonable pace. I felt like I had plenty of time and everything felt normal.”
Plenty of time is ominous for England, given Smith looked utterly unhurried through his Ashes innings of 144 and 142 at Edgbaston, before Archer ruffled him towards the end of his 92 at Lord’s.
“Edgbaston was just: first game back, fresh, and I just wanted to bat, I didn’t want to stop batting… All my movement patterns and the way I feel was really good so I’m comfortable with that, and hopefully I can ramp up my training over the next few days.
“It’s not facing a certain amount of balls. Believe it or not, I actually forget how I hold the bat. So I try and find that. Sometimes it takes me 10 balls, sometimes I go in straight away and it’s fine, sometimes it takes me a couple of hundred. But when I get that feel… that’s when I know I’m good to go and I usually say it straight away to [batting coach Graeme Hick], I’ll say ‘I’m good. I’m on fire here’.”
More than anything, you could sense Smith’s impatience to be playing, after both agonising over and admiring Stokes’ matchwinning performance. “He completely turned the series on its head,” said Smith. “Even if you go back to two nights before, when he bowled 14 overs straight. I rocked up to the ground next day and someone said that on average he bowled the quickest for the day as well, over those 14 overs.”
“You could just see the passion that he showed and the fight. He never gave up. You look at him, and I really admire this about him, when he scored a hundred he didn’t even celebrate, didn’t care. He had one thing on his mind and that was getting England over the line.”
With the series now locked at 1-1, getting over the line is all that Smith has on his mind too. After a year’s suspension, another match spectating was the last thing he wanted. Now the most prolific of run-gatherers is ready for his next haul.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ith-plays-down-impact-of-jofra-archer-bouncer
Smith will first play in a tour match against Derbyshire after Archer concussed him with a short ball during the second Test. Their battle in the fourth will be at least as anticipated as whatever Stokes does next. But ahead of time, Smith was in no mood to be deferential to his opponent.
“There’s been a bit of talk that he’s got the wood over me, but he hasn’t actually got me out,” said Smith of Archer. “He hit me on the head on a wicket that was a bit up and down at Lord’s. All the other bowlers have had more success against me, I daresay. I’ve faced them a bit more, but they’ve all got me out a lot more.”
As for a short-ball attack, Smith replied archly. “If they’re bowling up there it means they can’t nick me off, or hit me on the pad or hit the stumps. With the Dukes ball – I don’t know, that’s an interesting ploy.”
Smith certainly didn’t back away that day at Lord’s, repeatedly hooking Archer before one kept low and hit him on the side of the neck. There was alarm as Smith fell forward onto his face, like when batsman Phillip Hughes was fatally hit on the back of his neck during a domestic match in 2014. It wasn’t only onlookers who thought of that moment.
“I had a few things running through my head, particularly where I got hit,” said Smith. “That was probably the first thing I thought about. Then I was like, ‘I’m OK here’. I was a bit sad, but I was alright mentally for the rest of that afternoon.”
Smith’s concussion has started a broader conversation around safety. While making the point that a neck protector would not have prevented his injury, Smith said that he would have to get over his sense of claustrophobia when wearing one on the assumption that they would soon become mandatory.
As for the fact that he initially resumed his innings before being diagnosed the next day with concussion, he noted the complexity of such situations. “I felt pretty good, passed all my tests and was able to go and bat and then it wasn’t until later that evening that it hit me.
“As we’ve seen this series there have been so many head knocks already. Marnus [Labuschagne] has been hit a few times, Jos [Buttler] got hit at one point, Stokesy’s been hit. If you’re ruling people out from just hits every now and again we won’t have a game.”
Once his concussion was confirmed, a cautious medical route saw him miss the third Test. “It was a bit of a slow process, you’ve got to tick off a few different boxes, so I had to get through a brisk walk on the first morning of the game. I did some running on the treadmill… and was OK, so I progressed into some high-speed running, and faced a few of the flickers, and then faced bowlers. [I faced] Mitch Marsh and [Michael] Neser in the nets, so reasonable pace. I felt like I had plenty of time and everything felt normal.”
Plenty of time is ominous for England, given Smith looked utterly unhurried through his Ashes innings of 144 and 142 at Edgbaston, before Archer ruffled him towards the end of his 92 at Lord’s.
“Edgbaston was just: first game back, fresh, and I just wanted to bat, I didn’t want to stop batting… All my movement patterns and the way I feel was really good so I’m comfortable with that, and hopefully I can ramp up my training over the next few days.
“It’s not facing a certain amount of balls. Believe it or not, I actually forget how I hold the bat. So I try and find that. Sometimes it takes me 10 balls, sometimes I go in straight away and it’s fine, sometimes it takes me a couple of hundred. But when I get that feel… that’s when I know I’m good to go and I usually say it straight away to [batting coach Graeme Hick], I’ll say ‘I’m good. I’m on fire here’.”
More than anything, you could sense Smith’s impatience to be playing, after both agonising over and admiring Stokes’ matchwinning performance. “He completely turned the series on its head,” said Smith. “Even if you go back to two nights before, when he bowled 14 overs straight. I rocked up to the ground next day and someone said that on average he bowled the quickest for the day as well, over those 14 overs.”
“You could just see the passion that he showed and the fight. He never gave up. You look at him, and I really admire this about him, when he scored a hundred he didn’t even celebrate, didn’t care. He had one thing on his mind and that was getting England over the line.”
With the series now locked at 1-1, getting over the line is all that Smith has on his mind too. After a year’s suspension, another match spectating was the last thing he wanted. Now the most prolific of run-gatherers is ready for his next haul.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ith-plays-down-impact-of-jofra-archer-bouncer
