Jofra Archer’s full sledge revealed as Steve Smith tweet goes viral
Jofra Archer’s full sledge directed at Steve Smith has come to light, along with a stunning tweet from the fiery quick that has gone viral.
Jofra Archer’s full sledge to Steve Smith has been revealed and a stunning tweet has gone viral as the fallout to England’s horror Ashes series continues.
The Poms briefly held a rampant Australia at bay at the Gabba on day four, but it only delayed the inevitable as the home side matched the eight-wicket victory from the first Test to grab a 2-0 series lead.
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The highlight came as Australia chased just 65 runs for victory under the Gabba lights, when Jofra Archer made a well overdue bid to show some aggression, bowling with steam and getting stuck into a war of words with Smith.
There was only going to be one winner of that brief stoush, with Smith crunching two big sixes and two other boundaries in his nine-ball 23 as the hosts ran down the target in 10 overs.
A stumps microphone picked up some of the exchange, with 30-year-old Archer’s comments initially hard to decipher.
It has now been unearthed that Archer said Smith “likes to play shots when there’s not much on the scoreboard”.
It was an odd comment from the firebrand quick, given it came at a hopeless stage of the match from a man who has struggled to hit top speed in this series outside of the first innings in Perth.
Smith showed his wit is as quick as his batting hands when he instantly replied: “You bowl fast when there’s nothing going on, champion.”
“Champion” has emerged in recent years as a brutal, sarcastic put-down on these shores and we’re now calling the series 3-0 to Australia after that reply.
Ricky Ponting adopted a similar tone on Channel 7, telling Archer it’s “too late champ … you had your chance”.
Smith hit the first ball he faced from Archer – a 146km bullet – to the fence for four and then top-edged the Bridgetown-born Pom’s bouncer to the fence two balls later after an attempted hook shot.
That kicked off the war of words and when that simmered down, with Ben Stokes offering a high-five to his quick before directing him to walk away, Smith smashed Archer’s 150.5km delivery over the fence on the very next ball.
Case closed.
With Jake Weatherald chipping in with 17 from 23 balls at the other end, Smith put the exclamation point on his brilliant cameo by sending a Gus Atkinson bouncer over the deep square leg fence for another six and an Aussie victory.
The fiery exchange wasn’t the first time Smith and Archer have faced off.
Back in the 2019 Ashes series, Archer concussed Smith in the second Test at Lord’s, forcing him to miss the next match.
Smith still finished as the player of the series, compiling a series-high 774 runs at an average of 110.57, in another 2-2 draw.
The 36-year-old was asked about his history with Archer in Sunday’s post-match press conference and replied: “What history do I have?”
When the 2019 incident was pointed out, Smith referenced the Gabba stoush and played another straight bat, saying: “He was just bowling good pace and not really too sure what he said.
“And not sure what I said either and it’s not really any of your business either.
“So we’ll leave it out there.”
In the wake of the action on the field, an extraordinary tweet Archer posted on X more than 12 years ago has since resurfaced.
Just 17 at the time, Archer wrote: “Steve Smith 23 from 9.”
No context has emerged for the uncanny tweet, with the platform’s AI bot only stating Archer “often posted random cricket comments” and “no major match on March 20, 2013 featured Smith scoring exactly that”.
But it didn’t stop the tweet going viral overnight, with more than 4,800 likes, 2,200 retweets and over 400 comments at last check.
“Man knows future but still chose to chirp,” was one comment.
“No way blud predicted his own bashing,” was another.
“130s when it matters and 150 when your feelings are hurt. Nice one champion,” added a third.
England’s lack of any real cricket in Australia ahead of the series, outside of net sessions and a three-day game against their back-up Lions team in suburban Perth, has also been fiercely dissected after the one-sided contest to date.
Preparations for this series were said to be underway almost from the moment England suffered a stinging 2-2 draw at home in the 2023 Ashes, the match-up that spawned the notorious “moral victory” line from the Poms.
Yet their actions in Australia have demonstrated their plans were well short of what’s required for local conditions, a point rammed home by the likes of Sir Ian Botham and Sir Geoffrey Boycott.
“Ben Stokes said England had a blueprint. They had been planning this tour for four years and know what they are doing,” England great Boycott wrote in the UK’s Telegraph.
“What a load of bulls**t. We can’t believe anything Ben or his team say.
“None of them want to listen to anyone outside of their own camp.”
Remarkably, England coach Brendon McCullum’s response to a question about their build-up to the series was to declare his team had “over prepared”.
McCullum and his former quick Stuart Broad also had their own heated moment on Channel 7 when the latter questioned Archer’s inability to produce his best so far in the series.
Asked if the bowlers could “pull a bit more out of themselves when the game’s on the line”, a prickly McCullum shot back: “Yeah, possibly. I used to have to have those conversations with you sometimes as well Broady.”
So with the series in danger of officially ending in Adelaide, and Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon set to return to the Aussie side, the English will surely head straight to South Australia to give themselves the best preparation for the third Test on December 17, right?
Wrong.
They’re heading to Noosa for what we assume they feel is some well deserved down time.
Originally published as Jofra Archer’s full sledge revealed as Steve Smith tweet goes viral
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