England rehearse plan to attack Steve Smith with leg side, rib rattlers

Joe Root’s pacemen have been honing their Ashes strategy: target the man who single-handedly denied them last time.

Abid Ali of Pakistan ducks under a bouncer; Steve Smith evades a short ball during the last Ashes series.

It was a tough day for England on day four of the final Test against Pakistan and not only because the weather again got in their way. At around 5.15pm the ball was 40 overs old, Abid Ali and Azhar Ali looked well set and the Ageas Bowl surface was providing little assistance. It was reminiscent of many occasions overseas when they find themselves searching for a breakthrough and are stuck.

They worked on reverse swing but interestingly Joe Root returned to a ploy that Ben Stokes used to great effect during the second Test against West Indies at Emirates Old Trafford last month: during marathon spells with the old ball he went round the wicket to the right-hander and bowled short into the ribs of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks in the first innings, and Brooks and Jermaine Blackwood in the second.

Both times Stokes manufactured breakthroughs – Brathwaite giving a return catch and Blackwood flapping at a ball fired into his ribs which was caught by Jos Buttler. West Indies collapsed as a result, handing England a remarkable victory. Almost two-thirds of all the balls that Stokes bowled during two 11-over spells were pitched short.

With Stokes unavailable here due to family reasons, Root had to look elsewhere – and he turned to Stuart Broad to target in similar fashion Abid Ali and Azhar Ali, again two right-handers, before also getting Jofra Archer involved for one over before poor light forced the fast bowlers off.

Smith falls to the ground after being hit in the head by Jofra Archer during the second Ashes Test last year. Picture: AFP

Broad started by bowling to Abid with a leg slip (Root himself), a short leg (sub fielder James Bracey) and a man out on the hook (Dom Bess). To Azhar he slightly changed things, moving leg slip to square leg, but to both batsmen there were six men positioned on the leg side.

Broad bowled like this for three overs before spending a fourth switching between over and round the wicket and although he did not take a wicket, nor did he go for many runs, which creates pressure of its own.

But he was nothing like as menacing or as accurate as Stokes, possibly because Stokes is the more muscular man, possibly because Broad has spent so much of his career going round the wicket to left-handers.

It is interesting to consider why England might experiment in this fashion. The head coach Chris Silverwood on Monday made specific reference to a day like this being good practice for when England go abroad, but it is possible that Joe Root’s side are developing the round-the-wicket plan with particular reference to Steve Smith when they tour Australia next year.

Smith averaged 121.75 across the last two Ashes series but in the past 12 months has appeared vulnerable to leg-side short balls directed into his ribs.

England have surely taken note of a plan devised by New Zealand during their three Tests in Australia last winter when Neil Wagner, the seam bowler, dismissed Smith four times in a row by bowling short into the Australian’s ribs. Smith took numerous blows on the body, averaged only 42.80 for the series – against a career figure of 62.84 – with a highest score of 85. Equally telling, his strike rate dropped to 34.13, the lowest of his career and down by almost a third on any other series in Australia.

Wagner is slightly different to Stokes in that he is a left-armer who went at Smith from over the wicket but he was still coming at a right-handed batsman from the left side of the stumps as the batsman looks at him.

Smith said of Wagner’s tactics: “He’s pretty skilful the way he does it, how he can bowl between your rib and shoulder. Sometimes he doesn’t even bowl one over the shoulder [which would be categorised as a bouncer, which are limited to one per over by the umpire]. It took a bit of getting used to, an obscure field that he bowls to well. It’s just tough to score.”

Broad had Smith caught at leg gully by Stokes for 23 during the final Ashes Test in 2019, with two other men out for the hook, but on that occasion he came at Smith from over the wicket, not round.

But this plan is definitely a work in progress.

The Times