Section:GDN 1N PaGe:42 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 20:21 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019
(^42) Sport
Cricket The Ashes
Langer rules out bouncer
war as Smith misses Test
Australia pace attack to ‘stick
to the plan’ after concussion
sidelines premier batsman
Ali Martin
Justin Langer insists Australia must
not be drawn into a bouncer war with
England after Steve Smith was ruled
out of tomorrow’s third Test because
of the lingering eff ects of concussion.
The tourists are only one win away
from retaining the Ashes but will
be without their premier batsman
because Smith is not ready to return
after being hit by a 92mph Jofra Archer
short ball to the neck during the draw
at Lord’s.
Australia’s attack has never been
shy of roughing up batsmen – Archer
himself was targeted on debut – but
Langer, the head coach who has
preached a more disciplined approach
with the ball on this tour, has warned
his team against a fi ery response.
Langer said: “We know what our
plans are to beat England. What we’re
not going to do is get caught up in an
emotional battle of who’s going to
bowl the quickest bouncers. We’re
here to win the Test match, not to see
how many helmets we can hit.
“I’m sure the bouncer will still be
part of every bowler’s armoury. If it
helps us get batsmen out, then we’ll
use it; otherwise we’ll keep sticking
to the plan.”
Smith passed three concussion
tests immediately after the blow and
resumed his innings 40 minutes later.
But after failing a fourth test the fol-
lowing morning, amid symptoms that
included headaches and dizziness, he
was always unlikely to be ready for the
second of back-to-back Tests.
The 30-year-old, whose twin centu-
ries at Edgbaston powered Australia to
their 1-0 lead, was at training yester-
day but remained a bystander before
Langer confi rmed the news.
Langer said: “At the end of the
day it was really a no-brainer. He felt
a bit better yesterday but he is not
going to have time enough to tick off
everything he needs to do to be ready
to play.”
Marnus Labuschagne replaced
Smith as a concussion substitute at
Lord’s and, despite being hit in the
grille by Archer’s second ball, helped
close out the match with a resolute 59.
The right-hander received a similar
blow from Mitchell Starc in the nets
yesterday but shook it off and is down
to continue in the middle order.
Smith, who is now targeting the
tour match against Derbyshire from
29 August for his return, represents a
signifi cant loss for Australia. Langer
compared it to the injury suff ered by
Jimmy Anderson during the fi rst Test ;
England’s attack leader is now trying
to prove his fi tness by playing for Lan-
cashire’s second XI this week.
Archer presents a very diff erent
challenge from what Australia had
planned for, however. Langer said:
“We were expecting Anderson to
swing the ball, seam the ball and we
were going to have to be really tight
in our defence.
“[But] Jofra certainly brings a dif-
ferent dimension and we saw he
bowled quick. But also his economy
was incredible. So it’s skilful bowling
with fast bouncers in between.
“That’s Test cricket. That’s what we
love about it. You know you’re alive
Justin Langer
Australia coach
‘We’re here to win
a Test match, not
to see how many
helmets we can hit’
▲ Justin Langer says Australia will
stick to their plans to beat England
▼ Steve Smith in a refl ective mood
during a training session after being
ruled out of the third Ashes Test
MIKE EGERTON/PA IMAGES
RELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws