Steve Smith catch at SCG rescues 20 koalas after Aussie skipper’s four drops this summer

STEVE Smith’s superb hands have returned in stunning style with a memorable catch to remove Dawid Malan at the SCG - and a national icon is cheering.

Steve Smith is now saving Australia's koalas.

STEVE Smith’s superb hands have returned in stunning style at the SCG - and a national icon is cheering.

Usually as safe as a bank with his hands, Smith has endured an uncharacteristically tough time in the field of late, on Thursday dropping his fourth catch of the summer.

And it wasn’t just Smith who was feeling the pain - Australia’s koalas were also suffering.

Since signing a deal with a company that agreed to adopt 20 koalas for every catch he takes, Smith has had four spills to leave 80 koalas without an adopted home.

LIVE: Follow day two at the SCG here

Steve Smith takes a stunning catch to remove Dawid Malan.

No wonder he was hitting the hallowed turf of the SCG in disgust on Thursday when he missed a near impossible chance to give Dawid Malan when England where at 3-178.

But that all changed on Friday morning, when Smith took a stunning one-handed catch off Mitchell Starc’s bowling to remove Malan for 62.

Luckily for the koalas, Smith has also been making runs.

As part of the cute and cuddly deal with Koala Mattresses, the company has also been adopting a koala every-time Smith scores a run. So while he might have left 80 critters homeless with his missed catches, he has saved 604 with bat in hand.

Saving 20 of these little cuties...

Smith’s deal with the mattress exporter has proved a hit for the start-up company with the koala stuck on the captain’s bat alone generating huge publicity.

Smith wasn’t the only Australian that suffered a stroke of bad luck on day one with Cameron Bancroft and Mitch Marsh also missing chances.

Fielding at silly mid-off, Bancroft failed to get his hands to a rocket to remove Alastair Cook.

The ball hit him in the foot before crashing into the turf.

England's Dawid Malan watches as Smith dives to catch him.

Marsh’s miss was less forgivable with the all-rounder throwing to the wrong end when he had a chance to end the Cook and Malan partnership with a run-out.

Wicketkepper Tim Paine received Marsh’s throw then chucked the ball to the bowler’s end but was well wide of the stumps.

Usman Khawaja had some better news when he was cleared of injury after he went down while chasing a ball to the boundary. Taking a chunk out of the SCG outfield, the batsmen required treatment to his knee after the heavy slide.