Jonny Bairstow’s nemesis at the centre of yet more controversy in the Ashes
THE news that Smith had been ruled out on the morning of the third Test was enough to make a Yorkshireman cry: “Send for Jonny!”
Turned out to be the Australia batsman Steve, however, not the England wicketkeeper Jamie, whose butter-fingered display in Brisbane - allied to scores of 0 and 4 - had no doubt made some in the Broad Acres reflect that Jonny Bairstow might have done a darn sight better.
Bairstow would certainly have shown plenty of the “bit of dog” that captain Ben Stokes had called for prior to the match, with England having gone 2-0 down like whimpering Chihuahuas. Yorkshire’s finest is in the Middle East, of course, strutting his stuff for MI Emirates in the ILT20, having perhaps been surprisingly overlooked at the Indian Premier League auction on Tuesday ahead of his second season as the county’s red-ball captain.
Good news for Yorkshire fans there – for the moment, at least – and good news for England too for much of the opening skirmishes in Adelaide. A close of play return of eight wickets for 326 runs on a flat pitch in hot weather was no mean effort, although it could have been better but for inconsistent bowling, catching and technology.
Ah yes, technology… The key moment of the day - perhaps the entire match and, given the stakes, perhaps even the entire series - came with Australia 245-6 in the evening session.
Alex Carey, the Australia wicketkeeper, had 72 to his name when he tried to scythe Josh Tongue through the offside, the ball travelling on through to wicketkeeper Smith, who celebrated immediately.
Ahsan Raza, the standing umpire, was not convinced and so England reviewed, Real-Time Snicko (RTS) showing a clear spike - but before the ball had passed the bat.
“The operator at the time must have selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing,” explained Snicko’s owner, BBG Sports, which meant that the audio and visuals did not sync up, Carey going on to score 106.
“It’s just the way cricket goes sometimes,” said Carey, admitting that there was “a feather or some sort of noise” and that had he been given out he would have reviewed but “not confidently”. Asked whether he is a “walker”, he deadpanned: “Cleary not.”
Not that England can have any complaints in that regard given the Stuart Broad incident at Trent Bridge in 2013, when he stood his ground after edging to slip. However, their concerns about Snicko are palpably justified.
If Broad’s conduct was within the laws of the game - a la Carey’s controversial stumping of Bairstow at Lord’s in 2023 - whether it was in the spirit of the game is another matter. Carey perhaps hit the bail firmly on the head when he said: “It all depends which side of the fence you sit on.”
His was a fine innings before a record crowd of 56,000 at Adelaide Oval, although not without fortune as Australia put up a reasonable score but by no means one that bordered on decisive. He gave a sharp chance to Brydon Carse at cover on 52, driving at Jofra Archer, the pick of the bowlers with 3-29 from 16 hostile overs.
Harry Brook put down an easier - although by no means easy - opportunity at second slip when Australia were 50-2, getting two hands to the ball flying to his left when Usman Khawaja edged Tongue on five. Khawaja, who turns 39 on Thursday, had enjoyed an even bigger reprieve when Steve Smith was ruled out with a recurrence of vertigo prior to the toss.
Remarkably, given how poorly Carse bowled with the new ball in non-support of Archer, England had the hosts in early strife.
Jake Weatherald got into a horrible tangle as he tried to help a short ball from Archer into the leg-side, Smith jogging forward to take a straightforward catch, and Carse gained a scalp his efforts scarcely merited when Zak Crawley took a brilliant one-hander low to his left at forward point to remove Travis Head.
Marnus Labuschagne helped the first ball after lunch from Archer straight to mid-wicket, a shot so unfathomable that the only logical conclusion was that someone had spiked his food, and Archer struck again two balls later when Cameron Green clipped tamely to the same fielder – Carse.
The theme of gifted wickets continued when Khawaja, having reached 82 and added 91 with Carey, slog-swept Will Jacks to deep mid-wicket.
Jacks conceded 105 from his 20 overs but chipped in with another key wicket when Carey fell late in the day to a horrible leg-side hoick that gave Smith another simple skier. In other news, Josh Inglis played on to Tongue and Pat Cummins turned Carse to short-leg.
England’s hopes of regaining the Ashes - already slimmer than a stick insect on a hunger strike - would now seem to hinge on their first innings reply.
As with Snicko, anything could happen.