Emotional Smith shows strength of character

Steve Smith raises his bat after his century at Edgbaston (main), and looks at the field as the 100 sinks in (bottom left). It's a far cry from the emotional of his post-"Sandpapergate" press conference (top right). Pictures: AFP/Getty/AFP

Steve Smith’s Men is the title of a book published recently about the tour that brought an end to Smith’s captaincy of the Australia cricket team.

These men may not be under his command any more, but the opening day of the Ashes certainly was after an emotional hundred on his return to Test cricket restored a competitive edge to the day after Australia’s top order had wilted in the face of some high-class swing and seam bowling.

There were echoes of Ashes history all around Edgbaston. At lunch, many of the heroes of the 2005 series did a lap of honour, with their greatest hits from that memorable summer replayed on the big screen, and if their presence at dinner with the present players before the match, and then during the day, was intended to inspire Joe Root’s team, it certainly did the job initially. England were out of the blocks quickly, with only Smith standing between them and complete domination.

What the innings meant to Smith was plain to see in his creased features and prolonged hug of last man Nathan Lyon, after he drove Ben Stokes to cover for his ninth boundary four in the 73rd over. Ignoring the boos that greeted his arrival at the crease, and those that rang out when he raised his bat to celebrate his 24th Test hundred and his ninth against England, Smith acknowledged the Australian dressing room, and the core of Australian supporters in the ground. This was a fine and gutsy performance from an undeniably great player, an innings he rated among his best.

Smith’s past five innings now against England read: 239, 76, 102 not out, 83 and 144. The first four of those came in the last series down under when Smith was captain and life seemed a much more straightforward affair.

Since then he has endured some of the toughest times a sportsman can and if they were self-inflicted wounds, then that does not detract from the strength of character he showed here. Under the spotlight before the game, his team were under the cosh throughout his innings and without him, Australia might already be staring at defeat.

Taking a punt

It looked as though the ghosts of 2005 had come to haunt Australia. As Ricky Ponting did then by bowling first on a sunny day, Tim Paine took a punt by batting on a persistently cloudy one and at 122 for eight, with all but Smith of the top order done, he must have feared for the morning headlines, especially given his own egregious dismissal, caught pulling in the leg-trap.

The way Peter Siddle and Lyon hung around without alarm so that Smith was able to double Australia’s score and more for the last two wickets was vindication of the decision to bat first, but should give England comfort as they approach their task on the second day.

Who knows, though, what would have happened had England not been hampered by James Anderson’s absence. He felt a recurrence of his calf injury at the conclusion of his opening spell and was not seen again in the field after lunch, his afternoon taken up with a trip to the infirmary for scans instead. Broad, with his seventh five-wicket haul against Australia — he now joins an exclusive club with 100 wickets against them in all — and Chris Woakes performed manfully in his absence, but they carried too heavy a burden and struggled to contain Smith in the final session as their legs tired.

There was no news last evening of the results of Anderson’s scan, but his participation in the rest of this series must now be in doubt, given the helter-skelter nature of it.

The medical staff and selectors will have some tricky questions to answer, too, given that Anderson had no chance to prove his match fitness before this match and his readiness was taken on trust. In this there is an echo of the Pakistan series three years ago, when the selectors were lambasted for taking a more cautious approach, having omitted Anderson for the Lord’s Test despite the protestations of the bowler and the management. Given Thursday’s events, you could see why their caution was justified then.

The opening hour set the scene for the first half of the day, with two wickets falling amid a clutch of appeals, reviews and umpiring errors.

Bizarrely, David Warner had edged his first ball of the day from Broad down the leg-side — although the lack of review from England showed how faint the edge was — and his brief, uncertain innings was concluded when he failed to review a leg-before decision that replays showed was missing leg stump. Broad was the bowler again, and his round-the-wicket line to Warner always looked like paying dividends.

Boos aplenty

With Cameron Bancroft, Warner and Smith in the top four, there were boos aplenty from a lively crowd, and Warner was waved out of the action by the Hollies Stand, half of which raised what looked like yellow cards, but may have been, on second inspection, purchases from the hardware store. Bancroft received similar treatment when he became the second wicket in the opening hour, caught at slip fencing at a ball he should have left.

England’s bowling in the second hour did not quite have the threat of the first, although Usman Khawaja became the third wicket to fall before lunch, England using a review to confirm their suspicions of an edge.

Australia’s top-order fallibilities were matched only by the performance of the on-field umpires, Joel Wilson and Aleem Dar, further errors, among many, coming when Smith was adjudged leg-before to Broad on 34, overturned by the batsman, and when Matthew Wade was palpably leg-before to Woakes but given not out, until England reviewed. It was hard to keep track of the mistakes, so frequently did they occur.

In Anderson’s absence, the task fell to Woakes and Broad after lunch, and both responded with their best spells of the day, four wickets falling to them in 13 overs combined.

Broad was most threatening against the right-handers, with his leg-cutter working clinically, while Woakes was most dangerous to the left-handers, of which Australia have five in the top eight, because of the late swing into the pads. Other than Smith, Travis Head looked the most competent and comfortable of Australia’s top order until beaten by late movement and trapped leg-before.

Holding firm, Smith began to offer a reminder of the problems he caused England in the last Ashes series. Root was forced to thumb through the notebook from two years ago, moving his leg-side fielders as if chess pieces on a board. Sometimes there were four fielders on that side, sometimes five, sometimes catching at leg-slip, sometimes on the boundary edge, but rarely where Smith placed the ball. Back and across his stumps he moved, waiting until the patience of England’s bowlers snapped, before working into the gaps Root tried to plug. He simply needed company, which was eventually supplied by the reliable Siddle.

When Siddle was finally snapped up at short-leg off Moeen Ali, Smith began to attack with more conviction, which forced Root onto the defensive. Sometimes, with the second new ball approaching and eager to get Lyon on strike, Root had as many as nine fielders on the boundary for Smith. It didn’t make much difference: Lyon faced only 26 balls of the 82 that the tenth-wicket partnership entailed, and Smith’s final fifty came at quicker than a run a ball. Smith was finally bowled by Broad heaving to leg, after which he ran smartly from the field, job done. What a comeback it was.

The Times