Ashes 2019: Steve Smith to make return ahead of 4th Test, after Ben Stokes miracle

Steve Smith is set to return to action this week as Australia look to rebound from a crushing defeat that has turned the series on its head.

Steve Smith bats in the nets during the third Test. Picture: Getty Images

Steve Smith is set to make his return to action in a tour match against Derbyshire after the Australia star on Sunday batted against bowlers for the first time since being concussed.

Smith, one of the world’s leading batsmen, was ruled out of the third Ashes Test at Headingley with concussion after being hit by a 148km/h bouncer from England fast bowler Jofra Archer in the drawn second match at Lord’s.

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But he is now expected to return to action in a three-day tour match at Derby starting Thursday with a view to being available for selection for the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, that begins on September 4.

“Steve Smith batted against bowlers for the first time today (Sunday),” said an Australia team spokesman.

“The session lasted 25 minutes. He also did some high intensity running.”

The spokesman added: “He will continue to be assessed but is expected to play in the tour match at Derby.”

Steve Smith does some sprint training on day four at Headingley. Picture: Getty Images

Smith has made a spectacular return to Test cricket in what is the former Australia captain’s first series since he completed a 12-month ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

He made 144 and 142 in Australia’s 251-run win in the first Test at Edgbaston and 92 at Lord’s, having retired hurt on 80 when struck on his unprotected neck by Archer.

Marnus Labuschagne, Test cricket’s inaugural concussion substitute, has made three successive fifties against England since replacing Smith, including scores of 74 and 80 at Headingley.

The five-match series is level at 1-1 after Ben Stokes steered England to an incredible one-wicket win at Headingley.

The visiting team need to win just one of the remaining two Tests to retain the Ashes.

Paine rues close calls

Australian captain Tim Paine said he would put someone else in charge of the team’s reviews following his side’s extraordinary one-wicket defeat by England.

Paine’s men were on the brink of retaining the Ashes only for Ben Stokes’s remarkable 135 not out to see England home to a victory target of 359 that was still 73 runs in the distance when the all-rounder was joined in the middle by No 11 Jack Leach.

For all Stokes’ remarkable hitting in an innings featuring 11 fours and eight sixes, Australia missed chances to secure a win that would have seen them keep hold of the Ashes at 2-0 up with two to play.

Smith and Australian team doctor Richard Saw. Picture: Getty Images

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, on the receiving end of some of Stokes’s biggest hits, made a mess of a run out chance when the bowler failed to gather a throw with England still needing two to win.

The very next ball saw Lyon bellow a huge appeal for lbw against Stokes.

But the England vice-captain was given not out and Australia couldn’t challenge that verdict as they had used up all their reviews.

Their misery was compounded when replays revealed that Stokes would have been given out.

Given he is Australia’s wicketkeeper as well as their captain, Paine ought to be the best-placed person in the field to decide when his team uses DRS.

But after a stunning finale at Headingley, Paine admitted: “I’ve got every review wrong so far, so I’m going to give up and give it to someone else.

“It was just spur of the moment ... have a dabble at it. But, yeah, I got it wrong.”

‘Can’t bag the umpires’

Paine, however, refused to criticise Joel Wilson’s original not out decision, even if he disagreed with the West Indian umpire’s verdict.

“I saw it live. I thought it was out. I don’t need to see it again,” Paine said. “I have no issue with it, I don’t think I’ve got a referral correct the whole series so I can’t sit here and bag the umpires.

“To sit down and single out an umpire is unnecessary, he is no different to everyone else, he is allowed to make mistakes.”

England’s victory was all the more remarkable given they had been bowled out for just 67 -- their lowest Ashes total for 71 years -- in the first innings.

“I thought it was an amazing game of cricket, Ben Stokes was unbelievably good... it was one of the great Test innings,” said Paine.

“We finished up on the wrong side of it but in terms of an advertisement for Test cricket, I think that was bloody exciting.

“It was a bit of individual brilliance today from a world-class player. Stokes was playing out of his skin and he managed to do things that you normally wouldn’t see.

“I didn’t love it today but I love watching him play for that reason.”

England’s outlandish success invited comparisons with their 2-1 Ashes triumph of 2005, when their come-from-behind series win was kick-started by a nailbiting two-run win at Edgbaston.

Paine acknowledged the similarities: “In five or six years when we’re ex-players or maybe sooner, we’ll look back and know we’ve played in an amazing Test series.

“You look to a lot of Ashes series, 2005 springs to mind, and every time you turn on Fox Cricket, Channel Seven, there’s highlights of that because of the unbelievable cricket... not because who won or lost.

“There were awesome players playing, unbelievable innings, unbelievable spells, and so far this Ashes series has been the same for both sides.”

AFP