England’s ‘destructive’ big hitter saves them from the brink ...Middle East

2nd Test, Day 3: India 587 & 64-1 (Rahul 28* | Tongue 1-12) lead England 407 (Smith 184*, Brook 158 | Siraj 6-70) by 244 runs with 9 wickets remaining

EDGBASTON — Whatever the result of this rollercoaster second Test against India, England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith’s extraordinary innings will go down as one of the greatest seen on this ground.

Smith might not have joined cricketing icons Adam Gilchrist, MS Dhoni or Kumar Sangakkara in becoming one of the rare breed of glovemen to have scored a Test double hundred.

Yet at 24 and playing in just his 12th match, he has plenty of time to get there – and on the evidence of this nerveless unbeaten 184, he has every chance.

This was still England’s best for a keeper, Smith overtaking the previous record of 173 scored by Alec Stewart, his mentor at Surrey, against New Zealand at Auckland in 1997.

1⃣5⃣0⃣ and counting for Jamie Smith pic.twitter.com/l285vmmvnx

That he walked out to the middle 12 minutes into this third day with his team 84 for 5 – a mammoth 510 runs behind India’s first-innings total – made this even more remarkable.

The circumstances couldn’t have been tougher as he faced up to a hat-trick ball from Mohammed Siraj.

But after dispatching that for a dismissive four, Smith had a century by lunch.

He had briefly threatened the 76-ball record of Gilbert Jessop set in 1902 for England’s fastest Test hundred before eventually getting to three figures in 80 deliveries, still the third-fastest hundred by an Englishman in Test history.

Alongside Harry Brook, whose 158 was his ninth century in just 27 Tests, England’s sixth-wicket pair tormented India’s bowlers during a mammoth 303-run stand spanning 60.4 overs.

In the end, Smith was left high and dry 16 runs shy of a double century after India struck back with the second new ball, taking 5 for 31 to establish a 180-run first-innings lead.

Considering where England were when Smith started his day’s work, this was a significant moral victory for the Bazballers, who might yet still escape from Birmingham with their series lead intact depending on what happens over the final two days.

It is clear, though, that without one of the best individual innings of the Bazball era from Smith, this game would already be over as a contest.

Brook must also take great credit; this latest star turn his highest score in a home Test and his fifth above 150 in his fledgling career.

Indeed, the sixth-wicket pair’s contributions shone like beacons on a surreal England scorecard that contained six ducks and, other than theirs, no other score higher than Joe Root’s 22.

Jamie Smith brings up the 300-RUN PARTNERSHIP between himself and Harry Brook pic.twitter.com/tXRUC8CbAE

Yet it says much about the quality of Smith’s knock, one that included 108 runs in boundaries, that it completely overshadowed Brook’s magnificent contribution.

This is a player whose Test call-up last summer was not unanimously popular despite spectacular batting form for his county Surrey.

He came into the England team ahead of Jonny Bairstow, the original Bazballer from the maiden 2022 summer of coach Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, and Ben Foakes, his team-mate at Surrey who is widely regarded as the best gloveman in the world.

However, Smith rarely kept for Surrey, such is Foakes’s excellence.

But the hunch from McCullum and Stokes that this was the player they needed at No 7 in the order had already been justified before this tour de force at Edgbaston.

square CRICKET

Ben Stokes has had an absolute stinker

Indeed, it was here last summer against the West Indies where he smashed one delivery over the Hollies Stand on his way to a high-octane 95.

It is not only the strength and skill that makes Smith stand out as perhaps the most destructive keeper-batter since Australia’s Gilchrist, a revolutionary who redefined the role of wicketkeeper in the modern era.

He has real heart, too. Back in October in the series decider against Pakistan at Rawalpindi he had come to the crease in similar circumstances to here.

England were 98 for 5 and in full crisis mode on a sharply-turning pitch that had been doctored by the local groundsmen, who had dried the surface out with patio heaters in the days leading up the game.

Smith went on to produce a brilliant innings of 89 in 119 balls that contained six sixes and got England up to 267, just 77 behind Pakistan’s first innings.

England went on to lose the game heavily but Smith had proven that he could bat this way in extreme conditions – not just flat roads as he has encountered at Edgbaston this week.

Just how good he could become with more than a year’s experience in Test cricket is truly scary for England’s opponents – including Australia in this winter’s Ashes.

Afterwards, Brook said of his team-mate: “He’s a phenomenal player. He just leans on it and goes to the boundary.

“He’s played a phenomenal innings and one he should be proud of. Last year we saw him hit it over the Hollies. To have him in the side at No 7 is awesome with the depth we’ve got.”

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( England’s ‘destructive’ big hitter saves them from the brink )

Also on site :

• Beloved brand ends controversial 50 cent fee on popular breakfast staple as it gets ahead of Waffle House
• Wimbledon: Naomi Osaka loses to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the 3rd round
• Should You Expect USPS Mail Delivery on July 4th?