Section:OBS 2S PaGe:5 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 19:42 cYanmaGentaYellowblac
- The Observer
04.08.19 5
TOM JENKINS/THE OBSERVER;GRAHAM HUNT/REXOBO’s day three
Highlights from
our web team
How the day’s play unfolded
in real time on the OBO,
cricket’s original live blog,
at theguardian.com/sport105th over
England 307-8
A giant Trump infl atable balloon is
fl oating in the Hollies Stand. Gower
jumps in, doing a Trump voice: “Fake
news!” Words I didn’t expect to type.113th over
England 320-8
“Same old problem with England,”
writes Joe Cross. “Once you’re
through our rock-solid top order,
the middle just melts away.”Lunch
England 328-8 Th is is a corker
from Kanishk Srinivasan on the
topic of misunderstood laws and
quirks of cricket: “I couldn’t help
but think of a friend (who shall
remain anonymous) who used to
think that the 30-yard circle was
a mini-boundary, and that if you
got the ball past it, you’d get two
runs by default, and three if you got
it past without a bounce. He used
to explain the batsmen running
between wickets as a sign of
excitement or celebration.”2nd over
Th at’s Stuart Broad’s 450th
Test wicket. It was a monstrous
delivery that lifted and straightened
dramatically from around the wicket;
Warner tried to leave it at the last
minute but was too late and the ball
kissed the edge on its wa y through
to Bairstow. Th e not-out decision
looks a bit of a shocker from Joel
Wilson but, in his defence, Broad also
wasn’t sure.8th over
“Sat at Mombasa airport,” says
Mike Harding. “I have got your
commentary of the Test match in
one ear and watching a live stream
of my club Wilmslow CC playing
Woodford CC in Cheshire. It is tea at
Edgbaston and tea at the Rectory
Fields, Wilmslow. Th e wonder of the
internet.”10th over
Australia 33-2
Khawaja is dropped!
It was a very sharp,
low chance to Buttler in
the gully off the bowling of Moeen;
he couldn’t get his hands down fast
enough and the ball ran through
his legs. Smith then gets his fi rst
boundary with a classy fl ick behind
square. He looks in ominous touch.
He’s faced four balls.Join Geoff Lemon and Rob Smyth today
from 10am for over-by-over coverage
at theguardian.comNot the skipper
but Smith is the
de facto leader
The argy-bargy during Steve Smith’s
fi rst Test back after suspension has
carried on exactly as you might have
expected. Smith has generously
given the Edgbaston partisans
plenty of hours to give him an earful
over the fence, while others in the
crowd have applauded his batting
and made the argument that the
world should move on because he
has fi nished his punishment.
The interesting thing about
this is that Smith has not fi nished
his punishment. His year-long
ban from playing has ended, but
not the second year’s ban from
holding leadership positions in any
Australia team. So it was equally
interesting to see him in the slip
cordon as Australia tried to take
the last few English fi rst-innings
wickets, directing traffi c in the fi eld
as smoothly as he ever did while
captain.
Moving Warner to the midwicket
boundary was a good one, out in
front of the loudest part of the
Hollies Stand. In 2013, Warner
mollifi ed England fans by
shadow-boxing to the Rocky theme
song after having tried to thump
Joe Root in a bar; in 2019 he turned
out his pockets after the crowd
sang about him hiding sandpaper.
It is a simple but effective public
relations strategy and even thoughWarner has at times behaved more
egregiously than Smith, he can also
be more accessible, less taciturn,
easier to warm to.
The obvious line to draw out
was that Smith had taken over the
side anew in all but name, and that
Tim Paine, who originally replaced
him in South Africa in 2018, is
now playing on in Smith’s shadow.
Except that is not really what the
scenes have to mean at all.
Leadership comes in a lot of
different forms and the formality
o r otherwise of a position can be
entirely irrelevant in the face of
individual strengths or weaknesses.
Smith was incomparably a leader
on the fi rst day of this Test, when he
hauled his team out of the mire and
carried them to safety thanks to his
epic century.
Ever since his batting clicked at
Test level in 2013, Smith has been
a leader in this way: three tonstouring India in 2017, three in the
Ashes of 2017-18. It has always
been his most impressive cricketing
attribute.
Equally, despite all the talk about
how Smith loves batting, the truth
is that he loves being involved in
any capacity. He is just as switched
on waiting for a catch, which is why
he takes so many brilliant ones.
On the fi rst evening, as soon as he
lost his off stump on 144, he turned
and sprinted to the boundary to get
ready to fi eld. He just wants to be
out there.
Having him in the cordon would
be a great help to a captain who
also has to concentrate on keeping
wicket, knowing that an experienced
teammate is keeping a close eye
on how a batsman is playing and
which fi elders are manning which
positions.
The part of leadership where
Smith failed was when it came to
more ephemeral things: the way
his team conducted themselves, the
personal behaviour of his players- the impression they gave to the
world at large.
Things that are not precise in
concept or in measurement but that
matter in a representative team,
given that it is supposed to be a
collective embodiment of the people
backing it.
The Australian Test team does
not need Steve Smith to be their
captain again. He can skip the
media appointments and promo
shoots, the vague business of team
dynamics and values and ethos. He
can follow what has already been
put in place. Paine has done a fi ne
job in reshaping that since this team
met disaster, and when his tenure
ends it will be time to look to the
future, not recreate the past.
Smith can leave other people to
keep those things in line. He can
carry on being Smith. He can lead
with the bat, lead on the fi eld, and
in doing so keep working to make
up for what he called a failure of
his leadership in South Africa last
year. It has been less than one match
back, and that’s already exactly what
he’s doing. No more, no less.
Former captain back
in old routine – at the
crease and in the slips,writes Geoff Lemon
On fancy dress
Saturday one of
the day’s biggest
cheers from
the Edgbaston
crowd greeted the
wobbling antics
of a blow-up baby
Donald Trump,
teetering along
with six beers
in his hands
TOM JENKINS/THE OBSERVERSteve Smith (left) was often
switching the fi eld instead of the
captain, Tim PaineРЕЛИЗ
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