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BBC News
04-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Why Smith could become England's greatest keeper-batter
Jamie Smith was the 17-year-old tipped for international honours by England legend Alec has packed more into the past 12 months than most have managed in the seven years week's third Test at Lord's will mark the first anniversary of Smith's Test debut on the same then he has been out in the nineties in his third Test, made his maiden hundred in his fourth, missed a tour of New Zealand to become a father for the first time, struggled at his first international tournament and been made an opener – a position he had never held in professional cricket – in England's white-ball day three of the second Test at Edgbaston came the moment to top all of those others, on the field at 24-year-old crashed 184 not out against India, registering the highest score made by an England wicketkeeper in a men's Test to take the record from the man who tipped him for the top, Stewart. Much was made of how harsh it was for England to drop Ben Foakes, the world's best gloveman and an able batter, in favour of Smith at the start of last thought was given to how challenging it must have been for Smith to not only replace the man he sat next to in the Surrey dressing room but also impose himself and be the aggressive number seven England innings at Edgbaston was England's wish in perfect emerged after Joe Root and Ben Stokes had been dismissed by consecutive deliveries. He drove his first delivery for four before he set about flaying India's bowling to all corners of this ground in an epic partnership of 303 with Harry flogged anything short and creamed drives whenever the ball was Prasidh Krishna's bouncer ploy was pumped for 23 runs in one over, Stokes was applauding high above his head in the dressing was out hooking in Leeds last week but, as the Brendon McCullum mantra goes, here he 'walked towards the danger'. While Smith hit four sixes against India and has previously cleared the Hollies and Lord's Father Time with towering blows in his short career, he was not always blessed with such to his Test debut, having been unable to secure a top-order place in Surrey's T20 side, he turned down a trip with England Lions to instead play in the ILT20 in the United Arab he worked on his power hitting, while also bulking up in the the 80 balls Smith took to reach three figures meant Gilbert Jessop, England's fastest centurion, can rest easy as he holds onto his record further into a 123rd year, it did mean Smith tied for second place in terms of fastest Test tons by a of Smith is only Australia's Adam Gilchrist – the greatest keeper-batter of them was not out of his first summer in Test cricket before comparisons were being made between him and the Australian great last year, given his hitting power and ability to bat with the tail. The way the Whitgift School-product pulls pace bowlers from back-of-a-length over mid-wicket is a reminder of some of the greatest Australians – and whets the appetite for England's winter is yet to see the best of Smith – he averages 23.16 against them from six one-day internationals - and any suggestions he is Gilchrist's heir will be met by sniggers down scored 17 Test hundreds as he switched between a destroyer of tiring attacks to a man overqualified for a rebuild from number seven when the great Australian top order did thing Smith has on his side is time, however, given he made his first Test century aged 24. Gilchrist did not make his debut until two weeks before his 28th ending his career with a record to match Gilchrist's remains optimistic, the road to becoming England's best looks within reach given Smith's talent and the ease in which he has taken to international has been in the Test arena less than a year but already only five wicketkeepers – Alan Knott and Jonny Bairstow with five, Stewart six, Matt Prior on seven and pre-War great Les Ames on eight - sit ahead in terms of most centuries for he continue as he has started, injuries or England deciding to relieve him of the gloves look to be the only hazards in Smith's solid enough – he has a catch percentage of 96% from his 11 completed Tests – as a gloveman he does not move quickly enough to reach opportunities others could lay a hand on, while his missed stumping of Rishabh Pant in the first innings in Leeds last week was a regulation chance that Pant did not fully punish.A change looks a long way off, however, with Smith a favourite of the Stokes-McCullum could one day come from recent England call-up James Rew, who has 10 first-class hundreds for Somerset and is still aged 21, or his younger, possibly even more talented, brother, Thomas. The younger Rew is 17 and made the fastest century for England Under-19s earlier this now Smith has the role to himself and he will soon be a favourite of England's vocal loudest noise during the third day was the Hollies chanting of Harry Brook's name to the tune of a Boney M track as he raised his is Smith, though, that 17-year-old spotted by Stewart and now a fully-fledged international wicketkeeper and father, who is England's Daddy Cool.
BBC News
03-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
How Bazball's baby showed merit in England's thinking
England's Tuesday began stuck in was Jamie Smith who ensured there were no dangers of them grinding to a halt team that arrived at The Oval on e-bikes after traffic problems in London were powered to their victory by a freewheeling Smith, who followed a duck in Cardiff with an electric 64 from 28 balls to clinch a series clean sweep."I wanted to push out my chest a bit and say that I'm good enough to open the batting," Smith, 24, said after the seven-wicket the face of it, England's decision to employ Smith as an opener in this series is one straight from the playbook of out-of-the-box decisions made in the Brendon McCullum era of English Shoaib Bashir being called up for the Test side on the back of six first-class appearances was rogue, asking Smith to open the batting for a floundering 50-over side at the start of a new era - a position he has never batted in professional cricket - was not far behind. But in reality, despite regular 50-over openers Will Jacks or Tom Banton looking the frontrunners in the squad beforehand, Smith was always the obvious candidate - he is, after all, Bazball's favourite Foakes did little wrong in India in 2024 but by England's next Test, Smith had replaced 70 on debut and 95 in his third Test, the talk around Smith was glowing. When he made his maiden Test century a match later against Sri Lanka there were already suggestions he should take a job proving as troublesome to fill as the manager's role at Old Trafford - England's Test number Bethell's emergence has put that one on the backburner but when McCullum took over as England's white-ball coach last September it was no coincidence Smith was recalled to the set-up for the next Harry Brook revealed last week McCullum was talking about the possibility of Smith opening at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan - before incumbent Phil Salt had been shown the door."Me and Baz think Smudge could be an unbelievable white-ball opener," Brook said before the is no criticism but Brook has begun to sound like a jammed cassette when outlining his ideal batter since taking the Leeds to London, "we want batters that can put their best balls under pressure" he has said again and again - and could have hardly have done that better than he did in the third Surrey academy product received nine balls on a 'good length' under the lights at his cricketing home and scored 20 runs at a strike-rate north of 200. Across the match, his batting contemporaries managed 56 runs off 71 balls against such fascination with Smith comes with all of the caveats of his international career being only 24 matches old but with the knowledge that at his best he can seemingly do it this very ground against Sri Lanka last year he scored 15 from his first 31 deliveries in a Test before crashing 52 off his next 18. He has a technically solid defence and drives through the covers with ease. But he can also pick the ball off a length and deposit it over mid-wicket as he did on Tuesday."He's not a slogger, is he? He's playing proper shots," was how Brook put it also know the importance of an opening partnership if their rebirth after the troubles of Jos Buttler's final 18 months as captain is to be Morgan's World Cup-winning team had Buttler's fireworks, a match-winner in Ben Stokes and Joe Root's calmness but none of that would have been possible without Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow setting platforms that would have been too big for the Tests, England's best performances under McCullum captaincy - in Rawalpindi, at The Oval, or at Edgbaston - have all been built on significant opening Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley against the red ball, Duckett and Smith attack the white like they are playing different get technical, Duckett's average interception point against seamers is around 1.77m, 33cm behind Smith' right-hander Smith targets boundaries in front of him, left-hander Duckett has scored only 18% his career runs against pacers in the 'V'.And in McCullum, Smith has a coach who opened 107 times in ODIs and did so in a New Zealand side that reached a World Cup final - an ideal sounding board should one be one may expect with England's relaxed approach, however, Smith has largely been left to create his own plans during his first week in the job."He knows how to bat," Brook said."Like I said so many times, he's done it in Test cricket for periods. "He's gonna have a good go at it at the top in one-day cricket and I think everybody's excited to see how he goes."Brook knows there will be bumps to come but Smith will be given every chance to lead England on their ride.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Surrey on verge of beating Yorkshire
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day three) Yorkshire 255 & 185-6: Wharton 67, Bairstow 64*; Lawes 2-36 Surrey 512: Foakes 86, Patterson 85; Hill 4-58 Yorkshire (3 pts) trail Surrey (6 pts) by 72 runs Match scorecard Jonny Bairstow made a belligerent 64 not out and James Wharton an excellent 67 but Yorkshire are still facing defeat against Surrey at the Kia Oval. Surrey took three wickets late on day three to underline their complete dominance in a County Championship match they will expect to bring them a second win of the Division One season. The champions were held up by Bairstow and Wharton's fourth wicket stand of 84 but then Matt Fisher bowled Wharton and Tom Lawes removed George Hill and nightwatchman Jordan Buckingham in successive balls to leave Yorkshire 185-6 at stumps – still 72 runs adrift. Lawes had Hill caught at first slip and then pinned Buckingham leg-before, leaving Matt Revis to keep Bairstow – who has hit two sixes and eight fours in his 66-ball effort so far – company until the close. Nathan Smith and Jordan Clark had earlier Yorkshire up against it in their second innings at 31-2, although Wharton and Jonny Tattersall then dug in either side of tea and put on 52 for the third wicket. Finlay Bean was the first Yorkshire wicket to fall, for seven, thin-edging a Smith outswinger through to tumbling wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, and five overs later Adam Lyth was also gone, for 16. Lyth, who had looked fortunate to survive an impassioned leg-before appeal from Smith to the second ball of the innings, had made it only to 16 when Clark's seventh ball bounced steeply at him and he edged to third slip. Clark's first spell was an impressive 6-5-4-1 and, on his return to the attack after tea, the big all-rounder had Tattersall caught at second slip for 12. Bairstow, however, was soon into his stride and Surrey were forced on to the defensive as he and Wharton added 84 inside 17 overs. The 24-year-old Wharton impressed with some classical strokeplay but it was Bairstow who predictably led the counter-punching as he pulled Fisher over the short long leg boundary for successive sixes on his way to a 39-ball half-century. Fisher, though, hit back by producing a magnificent inswinger to bowl Wharton between bat and pad after he had faced 135 balls and hit six fours. Surrey were already 129 runs ahead at the start of day three when they resumed on 384-7, and any hopes Yorkshire might have had of quickly bringing the innings to its conclusion were quashed as Clark and Smith settled in comfortably despite overcast conditions. New Zealand all-rounder Smith looked a quality player to be coming in at number nine, on-driving Jack White early on for a sumptuous boundary – although he did also nick the same bowler down into the ground and clean between keeper and first slip for another four to bring up Surrey's 400. Smith's 70-ball 42 was ended when Hill, Yorkshire's stand-out bowler throughout, angled his medium-pace through a defensive push and deservedly won an lbw shout to complete an excellent five-wicket haul. Hill only bowled one more over after that, finishing with 5-66, but Smith and Clark's eighth wicket partnership of 94 in 25 overs had taken Surrey's lead close to 200. They were soon well beyond that, too, Lawes arriving at number 10 to showcase his own all-rounder status with a series of classy strokes against a tiring attack. The 22-year old was off the mark with a lovely lofted straight four off Revis and he also twice pulled the same bowler for further boundaries. Clark, on 41 overnight, had completed 2,000 first-class runs for Surrey before, on 69, playing on against Jordan Thompson after a determined near three-hour knock in which he had faced 147 balls and struck only five fours. Surrey's final wicket then added 48 more, with Lawes scoring freely in an unbeaten 37 from 33 balls and last man Fisher also contributing some nice shots in 18 before flashing Thompson high to first slip. ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay Notifications, social media and more with BBC Sport
BBC News
18-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Surrey on verge of beating Yorkshire
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day three)Yorkshire 255 & 185-6: Wharton 67, Bairstow 64*; Lawes 2-36Surrey 512: Foakes 86, Patterson 85; Hill 4-58Yorkshire (3 pts) trail Surrey (6 pts) by 72 runsMatch scorecard Jonny Bairstow made a belligerent 64 not out and James Wharton an excellent 67 but Yorkshire are still facing defeat against Surrey at the Kia took three wickets late on day three to underline their complete dominance in a County Championship match they will expect to bring them a second win of the Division One champions were held up by Bairstow and Wharton's fourth wicket stand of 84 but then Matt Fisher bowled Wharton and Tom Lawes removed George Hill and nightwatchman Jordan Buckingham in successive balls to leave Yorkshire 185-6 at stumps – still 72 runs had Hill caught at first slip and then pinned Buckingham leg-before, leaving Matt Revis to keep Bairstow – who has hit two sixes and eight fours in his 66-ball effort so far – company until the Smith and Jordan Clark had earlier Yorkshire up against it in their second innings at 31-2, although Wharton and Jonny Tattersall then dug in either side of tea and put on 52 for the third Bean was the first Yorkshire wicket to fall, for seven, thin-edging a Smith outswinger through to tumbling wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, and five overs later Adam Lyth was also gone, for who had looked fortunate to survive an impassioned leg-before appeal from Smith to the second ball of the innings, had made it only to 16 when Clark's seventh ball bounced steeply at him and he edged to third first spell was an impressive 6-5-4-1 and, on his return to the attack after tea, the big all-rounder had Tattersall caught at second slip for however, was soon into his stride and Surrey were forced on to the defensive as he and Wharton added 84 inside 17 24-year-old Wharton impressed with some classical strokeplay but it was Bairstow who predictably led the counter-punching as he pulled Fisher over the short long leg boundary for successive sixes on his way to a 39-ball though, hit back by producing a magnificent inswinger to bowl Wharton between bat and pad after he had faced 135 balls and hit six were already 129 runs ahead at the start of day three when they resumed on 384-7, and any hopes Yorkshire might have had of quickly bringing the innings to its conclusion were quashed as Clark and Smith settled in comfortably despite overcast Zealand all-rounder Smith looked a quality player to be coming in at number nine, on-driving Jack White early on for a sumptuous boundary – although he did also nick the same bowler down into the ground and clean between keeper and first slip for another four to bring up Surrey's 70-ball 42 was ended when Hill, Yorkshire's stand-out bowler throughout, angled his medium-pace through a defensive push and deservedly won an lbw shout to complete an excellent five-wicket haul. Hill only bowled one more over after that, finishing with 5-66, but Smith and Clark's eighth wicket partnership of 94 in 25 overs had taken Surrey's lead close to were soon well beyond that, too, Lawes arriving at number 10 to showcase his own all-rounder status with a series of classy strokes against a tiring attack. The 22-year old was off the mark with a lovely lofted straight four off Revis and he also twice pulled the same bowler for further on 41 overnight, had completed 2,000 first-class runs for Surrey before, on 69, playing on against Jordan Thompson after a determined near three-hour knock in which he had faced 147 balls and struck only five final wicket then added 48 more, with Lawes scoring freely in an unbeaten 37 from 33 balls and last man Fisher also contributing some nice shots in 18 before flashing Thompson high to first Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Alex Lees' half-century helps Durham close in on Nottinghamshire total
Durham trail Rothesay County Championship Division One leaders Nottinghamshire by 87 runs following half centuries from James Minto, captain Alex Lees and Emilio Gay. Gay will resume unbeaten on 74, alongside Ollie Robinson (25), after respective knocks of 67 and 82 from openers Minto and Lees helped the hosts reach 320 for four at stumps on day two at Chester-le-Street. Ben Foakes hit 86 and Kurtis Patterson registered 85 as Surrey established a 129-run advantage against Yorkshire at the Oval. Ben Foakes' brilliant innings comes to an end as he is caught behind for 86. Top knock, Foakesy! 🫡 Surrey 351/7, leading by 98 as Nathan Smith comes to the crease. 🤎 | #SurreyCricket — Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 17, 2025 The reigning champions closed on 384 for seven, with Yorkshire's George Hill taking four for 58 after his side were bowled out for 255 on day one. Archie Vaughan hit 80 as Somerset made 338 before enforcing the follow-on against Sussex at Taunton. Sussex will resume on 127 for four in the second innings, trailing by 59 runs, after opener Tom Haines made 50 before being trapped lbw by Migael Pretorius. At Edgbaston, pace bowler Kyle Abbott took five for 47 to put Hampshire in command against Warwickshire. ⌚STUMPS | Hampshire: 159-6 (46) lead by 265 runs. Albert and Wheal make it through to the close of play 🤝 Fletcha Middleton made 76, his highest score of the season, as we build a healthy lead in Birmingham 🏗️@trethowansllp 🔢 Match Centre 👉 — Hampshire Cricket (@hantscricket) May 17, 2025 Abbott's second five-for in successive games helped dismiss Warwickshire for 194 before the away team – spearheaded by Fletcha Middleton's 76 from 124 balls – moved on to 159 for six in their second innings to lead by 265. Essex trail Worcestershire by 259 runs after being bowled out for 157 following three wickets apiece for Tom Taylor and Matthew Waite. The hosts were 58 for five at stumps, adding to a first innings total of 358. In Division Two, England great James Anderson marked his first competitive outing since his international farewell last June by taking two wickets for Lancashire to help reduce Derbyshire to 112 for four at Old Trafford. Derbyshire trail by 346 runs after the struggling hosts, who are seeking a first win of the season, posted 458.
