England wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith smashed his way to his second Test century in 80 balls and, along with Harry Brook, powered a remarkable recovery from the hosts in a roller coaster first session on Day 3 of the second Test at Edgbaston. His innings and the whirlwind sixth-wicket stand with Brook has helped England bounce back after losing Joe Root and Ben Stokes to Mohammed Siraj off consecutive deliveries in the second over of the day.
Smith walked in at a time of strife for England. Mohammed Siraj had removed Joe Root and captain Ben Stokes off consecutive deliveries in the 22nd over. Smith then dealt with the hat-trick ball by drilling it through mid-off for a first-ball four. Smith then went berzerk on Prasidh Krishna in the 32nd over as the Indian pacer stuck to his short-ball ploy. Hit went 4, 6, 4 and 4 from the second to the fifth ball. Prasidh then bowled a wide above Smith’s head and then went full. Smith read him like a book and drove it straight down the ground on the front foot for four. Overall, 23 runs came off that over and Smith moved to 49 in 38 balls.
He got his 50 with a single off the last ball of the next over, getting there in just 43 balls. Smith kept going after Krishna and the pacer was finally taken off with figures of 0/61 in 8 overs. Smith’s belligerence took his partnership with Brook to the 100-run mark in just 89 balls, with the former scoring 64 in it.
England are leading the five-match series 1-0, having won the first Test at Headingley by five wickets despite being behind India for most of it. As they did in Leeds, England won the toss and chose to bowl first on a flat deck at Edgbaston. This time, however, India captain Shubman Gill ensured that they had a much more difficult task in their first innings by scoring a mammoth 269 in 387 balls. He shared a stand of 203 runs off 279 balls with Ravindra Jadeja (89 in 137) and 144 with Washington Sundar (42 off 103) and all of this allowed India to set up a mammoth total of 587. They then lost three wickets before Stumps on Day 2.
