Sport Second Specsavers Ashes Test
‘Groggy’ Smith is set to
miss out on Headingley
By Nick Hoult and
Tim Wigmore at Lord’s
Steve Smith admitted he would
have to face Australia’s fast bowlers
in the nets at Headingley on
Wednesday, but he is set to miss the
third Test after suffering delayed
concussion from a blow to the neck
from a 92mph Jofra Archer bouncer.
Smith had a precautionary scan
on his neck yesterday which con-
firmed he suffered no structural
damage, but he will now go through
cognitive testing and could be ruled
out of the next Test before Wednes-
day if his condition does not im-
prove. The short gap between Tests
- the next match starts on Thursday
- is “not in his favour”, according to
Cricket Australia, which casts ma-
jor doubt on him playing in Leeds.
If he nets at Headingley he will
also try wearing the helmet stem
guards introduced after the death
of Phillip Hughes, having previ-
ously decided they feel uncomfort-
able and claustrophobic. Archer’s
threat with the ball was underlined
yesterday when the fast bowler
struck Marnus Labuschagne,
Smith’s concussion substitute, on
the helmet.
Smith said: “I have to be able to
train probably a couple of days out
and face fast bowling to make sure
my reaction time is in place, so
there will be a few tests I have to
tick off and I guess time will tell. It
is a quick turnaround between Test
matches. I’m going to be assessed
over the next five or six days, each
day a couple of times a day to see
how I am progressing, and I hope
I will be available for that Test. It is
up to the medical staff. We will have
conversations, but it is an area of
concern, concussion, and I want to
be 100 per cent fit.”
Tim Paine, the Australia captain,
admitted Smith would have to show
major improvement to play on
Thursday. “He’s OK,” Paine said. “It
was a really nasty knock. He felt OK
yesterday and then woke up not
feeling his best today. I’m not sure
about Headingley. He’ll need to im-
prove.”
Cricket Australia does not have
an established return-to-play dura-
tion for head injuries apart from a
player being removed from cricket
for the immediate 24 hours after di-
agnosis, but the decision on
whether Smith plays will be solely
left in the hands of the medical staff.
The generally accepted medical
guidelines require a five-day break,
which would take Smith right up to
the start of the Test on Thursday.
The decision to allow him back to
the crease on Saturday to resume
his innings has been criticised by
concussion experts because of the
risk of further injury. “It may have
taken time for the physiological re-
sponse to result in symptoms so he
may very well have been vulnera-
ble to some kind of second impact
syndrome,” said Dr Thomas Tala-
vage, concussion specialist at Pur-
due University in the United States.
Luke Griggs, deputy chief execu-
tive of brain injury charity Head-
way, said: “When facing a 90mphNo let-up
Leeds will
be even
quicker
The PitchViz
rating suggests
Headingley
will help pace
bowlers the
most of this
year’s venuesHeadingley
PitchViz pace
rating6.2
Old Trafford
5.4
Edgbaston
4.7
Lord’s
4.7
The Oval
4.5
Not again: A Jofra
Archer delivery
hits Marnus
Labuschagne,
concussion
substitute for
Steve Smith, on
the helmetdelivery, any impairment of this na-
ture puts a batsman at significantly
increased risk of serious – and po-
tentially fatal – injury. A secondary
blow to the head can exacerbate the
initial injury to the brain.”
Sensitive to potential criticism,
CA released a statement yesterday
morning insisting the right proto-
cols were followed. As a board, it
has led the way in dealing with con-
cussion in cricket. “Cricket Aus-
tralia statistics show that 30 per
cent of concussions in Australian
cricket are delayed. It is not uncom-
mon for players to pass their tests
and feel well on the day of an injury
and then display symptoms 24 to 48
hours later.”
Smith was pulled out of the final
day of the second Test when he
woke up in the morning with a
headache and feeling “groggy”. He
then failed the Cogsport concus-
sion test, which tests motor func-
tion, reaction time, attention and
memory using computerised play-
ing card games. His medical report
said he complained of “headache”,
“dizziness” “feeling slowed down”,
“feeling in a fog” and “drowsiness”.
He failed one component of the
Cogsport test. Having assured the
team doctor “I feel fine” moments
after being hit, Smith agreed he had
to be removed from the Test when
he failed backup checks yesterday.
“I started to feel a little bit of a
headache coming on as the adrena-
lin got out of my system,” he said.
“I was able to get a good sleep,
which is somewhat rare for me, but
woke up feeling a little bit groggy
and with a headache again.
“I had some tests done and upon
further assessments, it was deemed
to be mild concussion.”
Archer was criticised in some
quarters, mainly Australian, for not
showing enough concern for Smith.
“I just tried to get him rattled,” said
Archer. “It was fun. I was just trying
to get him out really. Honestly
I don’t know [what I was thinking]
at the time. Seeing somebody go
down, you don’t want to see any-
body carried off on a stretcher, es-
pecially what happened a few years
ago [Hughes’s death].”
Meanwhile, helmet neck guards
could become compulsory for Aus-
tralian cricketers, Cricket Austral-
ia’s sports medicine chief has said.
While players are encouraged to
wear neck guards on their helmets,
it is not mandatory. It is believed
that the StemGuard developed by
the manufacturer Masuri, which is
made from foam and plastic, might
have mitigated the impact of the
blow to Smith.
Alex Kountouris, Australia’s
sports science and sports medicine
chief, told The Sydney Morning Her-
ald: “We want to make it a require-
ment to wear but we want to make
sure we have the right products –
we haven’t seen the products at the
moment. That’s to make sure they
are functional and not causing
other unintended problems.”MCC member ejected: News, page 3
Second Test scoreboard
At Lord’s Australia won toss
ENGLAND - First Innings
R B 4 6
RJ Burns c Bancroft b Cummins 53 127 7 0
JJ Roy c Paine b Hazlewood 0 3 0 0
*JE Root lbw b Hazlewood 14 20 3 0
JL Denly c Paine b Hazlewood 30 67 4 0
JC Buttler c Paine b Siddle 12 23 1 0
BA Stokes lbw b Lyon 13 22 3 0
†JM Bairstow c Khawaja b Lyon 52 95 7 0
CR Woakes c Paine b Cummins 32 62 3 1
JC Archer c Khawaja b Cummins 12 20 2 0
SCJ Broad b Lyon 11 15 2 0
MJ Leach not out 6 9 1 0
Extras (b12 lb5 w6) 23
Total (77.1 overs) 258
Fall 1-0 2-26 3-92 4-116 5-136 6-138 7-210 8-230
9-251 10-258.
Bowling PJ Cummins 21-8-61-3, JR Hazlewood 22-6-
58-3, PM Siddle 13-2-48-1, NM Lyon 19.1-2-68-3,
SPD Smith 2-0-6-0.
AUSTRALIA - First Innings
R B 4 6
CT Bancroft lbw b Archer 13 66 1 0
DA Warner b Broad 3 17 0 0
UT Khawaja c Bairstow b Woakes 36 56 5 0
SPD Smith lbw b Woakes 92 161 14 0
TM Head lbw b Broad 7 21 1 0
MS Wade c Burns b Broad 6 45 1 0
*†TD Paine c Buttler b Archer 23 70 2 0
PJ Cummins c Bairstow b Broad 20 80 3 0
PM Siddle c Bairstow b Woakes 9 31 1 0
NM Lyon lbw b Leach 6 17 0 0
JR Hazlewood not out 3 4 0 0
Extras (b17 lb12 w2 nb1) 32
Total (94.3 overs) 250
Fall 1-11 2-60 3-60 4-71 5-102 6-162 7-218 8-234
9-246 10-250.
Bowling SCJ Broad 27.3-7-65-4, JC Archer 29-11-59-2,
CR Woakes 19-6-61-3, BA Stokes 8-1-17-0, MJ Leach
11-3-19-1.ENGLAND - Second Innings
R B 4 6
RJ Burns c Paine b Siddle 29 52 3 0
JJ Roy c and b Cummins 2 13 0 0
*JE Root c Paine b Cummins 0 1 0 0
JL Denly c and b Siddle 26 51 4 0
BA Stokes not out 115 165 11 3
JC Buttler c Hazlewood b Cummins 31 108 3 0
†JM Bairstow not out 30 37 1 2
Extras (b5 lb19 nb1) 25
Total (5 wkts dec. 71 overs) 258
Fall 1-9 2-9 3-64 4-71 5-161.
Did not bat CR Woakes, JC Archer, SCJ Broad, MJ Leach
Bowling PJ Cummins 17-6-35-3, JR Hazlewood 13-1-
43-0, PM Siddle 15-4-54-2, NM Lyon 26-3-102-0.
AUSTRALIA - Second Innings
R B 4 6
CT Bancroft lbw b Leach 16 40 2 0
DA Warner c Burns b Archer 5 11 1 0
UT Khawaja c Bairstow b Archer 2 6 0 0
M Labuschagne c Root b Leach 59 100 8 0
TM Head not out 42 90 9 0
MS Wade c Buttler b Leach 1 5 0 0
*†TD Paine c Denly b Archer 4 17 1 0
PJ Cummins not out 1 17 0 0
Extras (b8 lb14 w1 nb1) 24
Total (6 wkts, 47.3 overs) 154
Fall 1-13 2-19 3-47 4-132 5-138 6-149.
Did not bat SPD Smith, PM Siddle, NM Lyon, JR
Hazlewood.
Bowling SCJ Broad 7-0-29-0, JC Archer 15-2-32-3,
CR Woakes 3-0-11-0, MJ Leach 16.3-5-37-3, BA
Stokes 3-1-16-0, JE Root 1-0-7-0, JL Denly 2-2-0-0.
Umpires Aleem Dar (Pakistan) & CB Gaffaney (New
Zealand). TV Umpire JS Wilson (Trinidad & Tobago).
Player of the match Stokes.
Match drawn.
(Australia lead series 1-0).
3 rd Test, Emerald Headingley Thursday, 11am.Gap between matches
‘not in his favour’
Archer bouncer strikes
substitute on helmet too
4 ** Monday 19 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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