Steve Smith’s angry reaction to his lbw dismissal by Scott Boland at the MCG was as much about losing precious time in the middle as it was the umpire’s judgment about whether the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps.
Walking off shaking his head, Smith knew he’d be set to face India having faced a grand total of 33 deliveries in red-ball cricket this summer, with no plans for any more before the Test series begins next month.
Steve Smith falls lbw to Scott Boland.Credit: cricket.com.au
As Nathan McSweeney added another thoughtful innings to his case for Test inclusion, and teenager Sam Konstas made a useful score without nailing the big innings that could vault him into the senior squad, Smith lasted just four balls against Boland after a 29-ball stay in the first innings.
These two brief stays on a lively MCG surface are likely to be Smith’s only red-ball innings before the Test summer. He has been chosen to face Pakistan in an ODI series that clashes with the only other Sheffield Shield game for NSW before the Test team convenes in Perth.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a few shoulders feel the wrath of that,” Mitchell Starc quipped of Smith’s lbw exit after play. “I probably won’t be bowling too many overs in the nets in the next week, but he’ll get himself right for the one-dayer on Friday, then he’ll do what he does in prep for that game and the ODI series as well.”
In Brisbane, 25-year-old McSweeney played sensibly for 72 before he was surprised by a prancing leg-break from Mitchell Swepson to be taken at slip.
He is a live option to come into the Test side, with close observers rating his temperament to cope with international cricket’s pressures. As a No.3 batter, McSweeney’s selection would likely require Marnus Labuschagne, a close friend, to move up to open alongside Usman Khawaja.
The innings took McSweeney’s Shield tally to 291 runs so far with a hundred and a couple of half-centuries at an average of 97, with only Konstas and a bullish Alex Carey ahead of him on the competition aggregates. McSweeney also finished last summer strongly with scores of 53, 67, 117 and six in his final four Shield innings.
Centre-wicket practice against the Australian pace bowlers on the WACA Ground, now a customary part of preparation for Perth Tests, is the way Smith best sees himself sharpening up for the dual with Jasprit Bumrah and company.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket now and feel good,” Smith said before his second-innings dismissal. “I’ll see how the second innings goes and talk to the powers that be and see what they think is best, but I think they’ll trust my preparation also.
“I’ve played for a long time and know what I need now. There’s obviously going to be some good centre wickets with our boys bowling in Perth, in similar conditions to what you’re going to get at Optus Stadium. [It’s] probably going to be enough.”
Nathan McSweeney captained the PM’s XI in 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Smith’s first ball from Boland snaked back towards him and met a combination of pad and bat – a hopeful lbw appeal was declined because a shot was played with contact coming outside the line of the off stump.
But Boland is nothing if not persistent – he had already defeated Nic Maddinson twice in a few balls, the first edge denied only by a no-ball – and he maintained the same line of attack. Smith, perhaps unwisely, shouldered arms to another ball coming back at him, and its skiddy trajectory did not suggest this one would clear the stumps.
Boland and the Victorians went up as one, soon followed by the umpire’s finger. Smith reeled away in shock, and then shook his head vigorously as he walked off, but replays favoured the umpire.
While wickets fell around him, Konstas batted soundly to get through the new ball and start to accelerate. He was much better able to combat deliveries moving back at him than during the first innings, although the temptation to drive brought one chance.
On 23, he was dropped by second slip Pete Handscomb off Boland, a sharp two-handed opportunity but one that the sometime Test player would have expected to take. A 50 beckoned for Konstas, but he was comprehensively beaten in flight by Todd Murphy and miscued a swirling catch to depart for 43 from 97 balls.
“He applied himself really well in the second innings, apart from the shot he got out on,” Starc said.
“For a young kid to absorb the pressure he’s been doing, [he was] obviously fantastic last week, [and] maybe got the raw end of it in the first innings, but I think he did some good, patient batting in the second innings before that last shot.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
