Daily Mail - 19.08.2019

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Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019

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BIG BEN STRIKES AGAIN

BEN Stokes’s seventh Test century, his

second at Lord’s, also felt significant

because he swapped places with

Buttler between innings. This looks a

better line-up for England. The other

player worth a mention is Jonny

Bairstow, who seems very

comfortable at No 7. And if this Test

match is anything to go by, he’s got his

mojo back.

DON’T TAKE IT LYON DOWN

AUSTRALIA’S strategy with a four-man

attack was for the three quicks to

rotate while Nathan Lyon (left) was

either taking wickets or tying down an

end. It was very significant that on day

five he went wicketless at nearly four

an over. It’s so important for England’s

batsmen to find a way of scoring

against him to disrupt the balance of

Australia’s bowling unit.

A QUESTION OF SAFETY

THE concussion rules are stringent

and any player hit on the head is

now asked a number of questions by

the medical staff to make sure he’s

all right. If, when they ask him who

he is, he replies Father Christmas or

Napoleon Bonaparte, they’re

honour-bound not to allow him back

on the field. And if he thinks it’s

Pancake Tuesday, the same applies.

INITIALLY, I’M CONFUSED

I HAD vegetarian room service on

Saturday night while grappling with

the vagaries of VAR. How can a

tattoo be offside? How can it be

handball when it brushes the logo

on your shirt? We moan about DRS

sometimes but it seems infinitely

better than this shemozzle in the

Premier League. They’ll be bringing

the CSI and the FBI in soon.

AT ITS MOST

BLOODSPORT
Weapon: captain Root congratulates Archer

BLOW MORE DAMAGING THAN A

HEAVYWEIGHT’S RIGHT HOOK

INSIGHT

DR BARRY

O’DRISCOLL

EX-INTERNATIONAL RUGBY

BOARD MEDICAL ADVISER

Make no mistake,

taking a blow from a

Jofra archer bouncer at

92mph is far more

damaging than a right

hook from the gloved fist

of a heavyweight boxer.

a cricket ball is like a

small rock and one really

bad strike to the head or

neck can cause nervous

or vascular damage.

If a boxer can’t stand up

within 10 seconds of a

heavy punch, they are

counted out and sent to

hospital for brain scans.

Steve Smith didn’t stand

up within 10 seconds

and I’m shocked that he

was allowed back on at

Lord’s. I’m not

criticising the doctor

because I presume he

did everything by the

book. It’s the system

that needs reviewing.

If you suspect

concussion, the player

must not go back on the

pitch. The moment you

take off a player for a

head injury assessment,

you suspect concussion.

The symptoms are not

always there 10 minutes

after the blow so it’s

impossible to determine

straight away whether

someone is concussed.

It can be a silent and

devastating injury.

Sometimes the

symptoms occur later

that night or the

following morning. I read

that Smith felt groggy

yesterday morning and

now he is likely to miss

the third Test, so that

proves the point.

The immediate effect

may be a loss of balance

and loss of memory. In

the short term, you can

get post-concussion

syndrome where you

may have vomiting and

headaches. england

were within their rights

to use archer to target

Smith but maybe cricket

should look at reducing

bouncers to one per over.

INSIGHT

DR PETER

BRUKNER

FORMER DOCTOR TO THE

AUSTRALIA CRICKET TEAM

I DOUBT SMITH WILL MAKE IT

FOR THURSDAY’S THIRD TEST

I REMEMBER once trying

to get Steve Smith to

come off in New Zealand

after he took a hit to

the head and, let me tell

you, that was difficult.

All batsmen want to

stay on, and Smith is no

different. He loves to be

out there and we saw

how he came back to

bat after being struck

just below the left ear

by Jofra Archer’s 92mph

delivery. The Australian

medical staff handled it

well. They took him off,

performed their initial

tests and they came

back positive, so he was

given the all-clear to

return to bat.

It is not uncommon for

symptoms of concussion

to only develop the

following day and that

appears to be what has

happened here. Will

Smith make the third

Test at Headingley? I

doubt it. Unless he woke

up without any

symptoms this morning,

then he won’t make it.

If I was in charge, I

would want to increase

his activity over the

coming days. I would

want to see how he

reacts, but time is

against Australia with

the next Test starting

this Thursday. Having

the concussion

substitute takes a lot of

pressure off the doctors

and the players.

Smith woke

up feeling a

‘bit groggy’

From Back Page

the ‘short turnaround

to the next Test is not

in his favour’.

and, while the aus-

tralians maintain that

Smith’s injury on

Saturday afternoon

was handled correctly,

Dr Barry O’Driscoll, the

former medical adviser

to the International

Rugby Board, told

Sportsmail he was

‘shocked’ Smith had

been allowed to resume

his innings after having

a concussion medical

check in the dressing

room.

Meanwhile, Peter

Brukner, the australian

team’s former doctor,

said he doubted Smith

would recover in time

for Headingley.

Smith’s health was

said to have deterio-

rated between the

initial concussion tests

performed on Saturday

evening and an evalua-

tion next morning.

‘I started to feel a

little bit of a headache

on Saturday night,

probably as the adren-

aline got out of my

system,’ said Smith.

‘I was able to get a

good sleep in, which is

somewhat rare for me,

but I woke up feeling a

little bit groggy and

with a headache again.

‘I have been assessed

and asked a lot of ques-

tions over the last 20

hours or thereabouts. I

declined in the way I

felt over that time and

that led to me being

ruled out.’

Under new rules intro-

duced globally ahead of

this series, australia

had to apply in writing

to the ICC for a concus-

sion substitute.

On the form, Smith’s

symptoms were

described as ‘headache,

dizziness, feeling

slowed down, feeling in

a fog, doesn’t feel right,

drowsiness.’

Smith has said he will

consider wearing stem

guards on his helmet.

The guards, which are

attached to the base of

the helmet and offer

extra protection to the

neck, have been worn

by many players since

the death of australian

batsman Phillip Hughes

in November 2014,

though they are yet to

be made compulsory.

Smith said: ‘It is cer-

tainly something I need

to have a look at and

perhaps try in the nets

and see if I can find a

way to get comfortable

with it.’

Just as big a talking

point as Smith’s health

was the form of archer,

who hit several austral-

ians during the course

of his first Test and

picked up five wickets.

asked whether he

could have as big an

impact on this ashes as

australian quick

Mitchell Johnson did in

2013-14, england cap-

tain Joe Root replied:

‘Potentially. One thing

it will do is to make

australia think about

how they’re going to

combat him.

‘It’s nice to be stood

at slip and not batting

against him.

‘He’s very different to

the other options we’ve

had previously. He

makes things happen in

a way not many others

in world cricket can.

‘It’s just nice for us to

be in a good place going

to Headingley. It was

important we gave a

really good response

this week.’

australia, however,

remain 1-0 up and only

need to draw the series

to retain the ashes.

PICTURE:

ANDY

HOOPER