(^62) DAILY MIRROR FRIDAY 06.09.2019
DM1ST
THE ASHES ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA

ALAS SMITH

AS Steve Smith returned to the crease

after being reprieved by video footage

of Jack Leach’s right boot, Joe Root

called a huddle.

Presumably, he told a few home

truths.

A few home truths, a few hours too

late.

Australia were already on their way to

a score that would make an English

victory unlikely – Smith’s freakish

reprieve and subsequent cashing-in

merely confirmed it.

Headingley miracles can happen

anywhere, but there will have to be an

absolute blinder for Root to add to his

solitary win as an Ashes skipper.

This is Root’s ninth Test captaining

England against the Australians.

Almost certainly after the weekend,

he will have only the Ben Stokes Show

to boast of as his only victory.

And, as he stood hands on hips while

Mitchell Starc repeatedly flayed Stuart

Broad to the ropes with Smith

luxuriating in his double ton at the other

end, Root knew it.

No wonder there was not a hint of

celebration when his part-time off-spin

finally accounted for Smith.

For the best part of two days, England

have been flat, listless, sloppy, casual –

call it what you want.

And, while the litany of individual

errors cannot be dumped at Root’s door,

some sort of buck has to finally stop

with the leader. For example, Root was

not directly responsible for Jofra

Archer’s indifferent contribution over

these past couple of days.

But it probably did not help the

bowler’s mindset when Root hooked him

after just seven balls to Smith on the

first morning’s play.

On a thoroughly chastening

Thursday, the dynamic between captain

and Archer – who seemed unimpressed

when asked to go around the wicket to

Tim Paine – looked anything but

positive.

After his own second innings effort

with the bat on that third afternoon

played a small, but crucial part in that

remarkable third Test win, Root was

understandably prickly with his critics.

But the bald truth is that, in his 33rd

Test as captain, the jury are still out on

Root’s leadership.

Of course, one of the best ways that

he could show it is to defy Australia at

the crease during the next couple of

days.

England can still go to The Oval next

Thursday and regain the Ashes, if the

likes of Root can produce an epic stint

or two in Manchester against cricket’s

finest attack.

Because that remains Root’s greatest

strength as captain – his batting.

With a top Test score of 254 coming

here and an average of over 100 on the

ground, Old Trafford is a happy hunting

place for Root the batsman.

If that does not continue, the type of

home truths that he told his players as

Smith returned to the slaughter will be

heard by Root himself.

Furious huddle that

shows the Headingley

miracle feels a very long

time ago for captain Root

t

3

Number of double-tons for

Steve Smith in Tests, all in the

Ashes against England

147.25^

Smith’s

average after

four innings in this series

589

Runs for Smith in this

series, in four innings.

None of the other Australian

batsmen have scored even half of

Smith’s runs

11

Centuries for Smith against

England

93.64^

Smith’s first

innings average

in Tests. He has scored 3184 runs

in 39 innings with 16 hundreds

6

Batsmen have scored two

double-centuries against

England in England. Steve Smith

joined Sir Don Bradman, Zaheer

Abbas, Viv Richards, Gordon

Greenidge and Graeme Smith

3

Smith has scored over 500

runs in each of the last three

Ashes: 508 in 2015 in England,

687 in 2017-18 in Australia and

589 in this series.

SMITH BY

NUMBERS

BY ANDY DUNN

Chief Sports Writer

@andydunnmirror

Smith salutes the

Old Trafford crowd

after finally being

dismissed for

211

STEVIE

WONDER