Section:GDN 1N PaGe:42 Edition Date:190812 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 11/8/2019 19:39 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Monday 12 Aug ust 2019
(^42) Sport
Cricket The Ashes
Australia can
cope with
Archer’s
threat, says
Cummins
Pat Cummins believes Jimmy
Anderson will be a “massive loss” for
England in the second Ashes Test and
says Australia are well prepared to deal
with his replacement, Jofra Archer, at
Lord’s.
Anderson has been sidelined by
a calf injury , with his return date
unclear, after he managed only four
overs of the opening Test at Edgbaston
before Australia went on to win by 251
runs.
“It’s unfortunate for them that he
went down early in the fi rst game ; it’s
no secret that he is a massive loss,” said
Cummins, who last week became the
second fastest Australian to 100 Test
wickets as he reached the mark in his
21st outing.
“He’s been their highest wicket-
taker and is arguably the best bowler
in the last few Ashes series. As soon
as he went down I felt like there was a
real opportunity in the second innings
to try and get some overs into their
bowlers and bat well. Luckily we did.”
Anderson’s absence opens the
door for Archer only a month after he
bowled the dramatic Super Over in the
World Cup fi nal win over New Zealand.
“Some of the boys have played
against Jofra at the World Cup or with
him in the IPL or Big Bash League, so
he is not an unknown,” Cummins said.
“We’ll do our homework but we’ve all
faced him.”
Archer is not the only new face in
the England attack, with Jack Leach
replacing Moeen Ali after the latter had
a disappointing match in Birmingham.
Asked if Australia had forced
England into a re think of their strategy,
Cummins said: “It might seem like a
big call but Leach had a good game
[against Ireland] only a couple of
weeks ago.
“We’ll just keep doing our thing.
The good thing is we have a full squad
to pick from. The unfortunate guys
who had missed out on the bench have
done well in the warm-up games.
“Whoever is the 11 that comes at us
doesn’t really bother us too much.”
PA Media
Smith back
to his best
is to be prized
not scorned
Geoff Lemon
Lord’s
Australia’s best batsman is
gracing the game again after
bruising it and is leaving
nothing to chance for Lord’s
S
teve Smith is ruining Test
cricket. Like a maverick
cop forced off active duty,
he has been back only fi ve
minutes but is already
laying the town to waste.
Or at least this is the perception in
some parts of the British Isles.
Some objections come from the
internet eggs that spawn around
comment threads, decrying him as a
cheat who should never be allowed
near a cricket fi eld again – you know,
like all the other ball-tamperers who
were banned for life rather than
being feted as greats of the game
with commentary contracts and hall
of fame places.
Another interpretation is that
cricket is now futile because Smith
is too good. He was out of the game
a year and a half, confi ned to desk
duties by some chief who did n ot
appreciate his way of getting results.
But the instant he got back on those
mean streets, he started cleaning
them up again. Two centuries from
two attempts , and the Ashes may as
well be surrendered now.
It is true that Smith can become
impossible to bowl to and never
more so than against England : fi ve
centuries in his past six Ashes Tests,
averaging 139. That is a whole lot
of stepping across the stumps to
knock a single to midwicket. At
times Smith seems to form a wall:
a bat that always middles the ball,
two pads lined up behind it that are
never struck. In a game that hinges
on getting players out, what happens
when you cannot get one out?
Of course none of this is actually
accurate. Anyone can and does
and will get out. Every batsman
fails more often than not. Smith
might get a pair this week at Lord’s.
What he has done is worked out a
system against an even-paced right-
arm seam attack while neutering
England’s principal off -spinner.
As Smith explained in 2017,
he used to take guard on middle
stump and not have a preliminary
movement. This meant he could be
drawn into edges outside off stump.
One could see it at Trent Bridge
2013: stock-still as the ball was
delivered, bat high in the backlift,
he drove hard for an important 50
before Jimmy Anderson found some
outswing and a nick.
To combat this, Smith eventually
took guard on leg stump and steppedall the way across to off. That can
make players vulnerable to lbw but
Smith is so strong off his legs that
it opens up that scoring area while
shrinking the channel. “It’s a big
movement,” he explained, “but for
me it’s about trying to minimise
the ways that you get out. If guys
get me out lbw, I say well played,
congratulations but, if I nick one off ,
that’s when I get upset at myself.”
The best way to get Smith is still
the outside edge. That is where any
player is vulnerable. The bowlers
who keep feeding the line on his
pads are the ones he keeps gorging
on. Anderson equally tried to
keep this perspective on the BBC’s
Tailenders podcast. “He’s a great
player but he is a human being.
There are ways of getting him out,
whether it’s not trying all these
fancy plans – just sticking to your
basics a bit longer.”
Anderson has bowled to the
greats of his era and has got them all
out at one time or another. Perhaps
it is more possible for him to avoid
playing the reputation rather than
the player. One example is thesudden feverish interest in left-
arm spin, with Smith averaging 37
against it as opposed to 51 or better
against right-arm spin or pace
with either arm. But the case has
defi nitely been overstated.R
angana Herath got
Smith fi ve times in
Sri Lanka in 2016 but
that was Herath at his
absolute best, bowling
half the team’s overs
and taking 27 wickets on spinning
tracks. Ravindra Jadeja had him four
times but likewise bowled half the
overs when Australia visited in 2017.
Keshav Maharaj and Dean Elgar got
him four times between them in
2018 but South Africa had no right-
arm spinner. If one mostly faces left-
arm bowling, there is no signifi cance
getting out to it.
In terms of right-arm spin, Smith’s
stronger record includes any number
of part-timers and bowlers such as
Moeen Ali, whom he has climbed
on top of. Moeen has dismissed
Smith three times in 18 innings while
giving away a truckload of runs.What Smith has done is never let
him settle.
England will bring in the left-
armer Jack Leach for Moeen at
Lord’s, though that is as much to do
with Moeen’s lack of form. Three
days out Smith was facing local
left-armers. “No margin for error
with your length and you have to
have your pace right up there,” was
the observation from one of the net
bowlers. Any false shots? A shake of
the head. “Just to bowl a dot to Steve
Smith is an achievement.”
During the spell Smith kept
complimenting deliveries on fl ight
or shape. He kept touching each part
of his body, as he does in the middle.
He stayed until near the end, as did
David Warner. This was an optional
session. None of this is coincidental.
Steve Smith is n ot destroying
Test cricket. He entertained it, then
he bruised it, now he is gracing it
again – the best at his best, defying
the odds. Ethics and ramifi cations
can be argued for decades. But it will
not take that long to appreciate that
in these brief years we have been
witnessing something very special.▼ Steve Smith practises
facing left-arm spin
at the Lord’s nursery
LUKE WALKER/GETTY IMAGES▲ Jimmy Anderson is a ‘massive loss’
for England, says Pat CumminsРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS