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‘Dumbest shot you’ll ever see’: Jamie Smith’s ‘abysmal’ dismissal sparks meltdown; England great forced to hide his face
Graeme Swann couldn't help but hide his face in disbelief after Jamie Smith's dismissal left England and Australia's greats distraught.
Joe Root’s record-equalling 41st Test century wasn’t enough to prevent England from enduring a lower-order collapse, which saw the team get all out for 384 with its former captain top-scoring with 160. However, as much as love, respect and admiration Root received for his century, his teammate, Jamie Smith, was bombarded with the same amount of flak after the England wicketkeeper played a horrendous shot to gift his wicket away.
Smith, who was England’s find in the Test series against India last year with 434 runs, including a century and two fifties, was batting on 41, tasked with the responsibility of taking the team towards 450 if not more, had a rush of blood, and took on Marnus Labuschagne in his first over. Labuschagne dragged his length back, bowling a short ball and tempting Smith into an aggressive charge. The attempted offside slog was mistimed, and Scott Boland settled under it at deep cover to complete the catch. Smith’s dismissal sparked outrage from Australian and England camps alike, with Justin Langer leading the way and calling it the dumbest shot ever.
"What I do know is not for the first time in this series, Jamie Smith has played one of the dumbest shots you’ll ever see in Test cricket. He was lucky earlier; he had a very soft dismissal off a no-ball to Cameron Green. Test cricket goes for five days; this is dumb cricket. Marnus Labuschagne is pumped,” the former Australia coach said on air.
No love lost from Aussie greats
Brett Lee, the former Aussie quick, didn’t mince words either. “The golden arm strikes again! Marnus Labuschagne just bowled bumper after bumper after bumper – at 129km/hr – but it’s effective. His 14th Test wicket – and this would probably be his favourite. It’s a rank bumper outside off stump, but what was he doing? What was Jamie Smith thinking? It was a poor shot. It’s a filthy shot,” he said.
But perhaps no action said it louder than words than former England spin great Graeme Swann, who was forced to hide his face. Simon Katich didn’t hold back either, taking a vicious aim at Bazball. "He’ll go in the dressing room now and probably get pats on the back for taking the game on," he said on SEN Radio.
Alyssa Healy, another Australia great, could not believe her eyes. “There is one man in the deep in front of point on the off-side, and he (Smith) has picked him out. I know this is the way they (England) play and the way they want to approach it, but you cannot honestly tell me he’s going to walk back into that change room and be patted on the back.”
