While the ball-tampering furore will die down Steve Smith and his side have underestimated the values Australians attach to the game“It ain’t true, is it, Joe?”“Yes, kid, I’m afraid it is.” Related: Steve Smith set to lose Australia captaincy and could face year-long ban Related: Steve Smith must go after scandal that has torched Australia’s reputation | Jason Gillespie Continue reading...
England and Australia jostle for the awards for best moment, match, and breakthrough player. Best player? Well, maybe the award should be renamedSteve Smith is a freak. To think he started the series with a supposed drought of international centuries having not raised the bat since March. This really is a special player we are watching. Adam Collins Related: Trevor Bayliss to stand down as England head coach at end of 2019 Ashes Related: Australia’s Steve Smith puts winning the Ashes in England on his bucket list | Adam Collins "The ball of the #Ashes.""Ball of the 21st century..."Mitchell Starc's delivery to dismiss James Vince impressed pretty much everyone in the cricket world... #ItsTheAshes pic.twitter.com/Gmbb1v6YOn Related: The Ashes 2017-18: England...
In addition to his speed machines enduring a slowdown and England’s Alastair Cook in imperious nick, Steve Smith experienced a sudden bout of butter fingers on a draining third day for Australia’s main manYou know it has not gone well for Australia when their coach fronts the media at stumps. Bad Day Boof is what it’s called when Darren Lehmann steps in front of the cameras but this was a case of Sad Day Smudge. Steve Smith started the morning with an upset stomach and could only have ended his draining shift in the field feeling worse.Run ragged by a champion in commanding nick, dropping catches, drawn into increasingly funky fields and, by the end, playing an unwilling game of...
Australia’s captain is fully aware of his role as the main character in every story these sides write, but the next move in the third Test is down to Joe RootThe roar Joe Root let out when he reviewed correctly to dismiss Cameron Bancroft shortly after David Warner nicked off was guttural and instructive. The England captain had got the big call right and they had two in a hurry. After a horrid collapse before lunch, and an imposing start for Australia, England were suddenly back in the day, with Craig Overton looking more dangerous by the delivery.But the upshot of the hours to come was always going to rest on how they went when the next guy walked out,...
If Steve Smith has a wider claim on some kind of ultimacy right now it is perhaps a minor role as the greatest Test batsman to be nobody’s favourite Test batsmanShakin’ Stevens was the biggest-selling British singles artist of the 1980s. It is probably worth remembering this fact the next time a man with a greying beard tells you the 80s were the last real golden age of popular music, a starburst of youthful creativity, artistic collectivism and sad, pale people standing behind synthesisers pretending they’re not surrounded by balloons on Top of the Pops.Forget all that. The rankings don’t lie. In reality the 80s were characterised by an apparently insatiable thirst for a handsome middle-aged Welshman miming to country music and...