Steve Smith's Aussie cricket dilemma deepens amid 'painful' second Test drama
Smith was livid over his dismissal on day one of the second Test against New Zealand.
Steve Smith's underwhelming start to life as a Test opener for Australia has hit a fresh low on the opening day of the second match against New Zealand in Christchurch. The Aussies went into bat in the afternoon session after Josh Hazlewood (5-31) and Mitchell Starc (3-59) ripped through New Zealand's batting lineup to leave the hosts all out for 162.
Starc's three wickets saw him surpass cricket great Dennis Lillee as Australia's fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time (357 wickets). The historic scenes came after skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and sent the Kiwis into bat, with the move paying dividends in a sensational bowling display for the Aussies.
That set the stage for Smith to play his way into form and press home Australia's advantage with a big score that had proven somewhat elusive since he replaced the retired David Warner as opener. Smith's five previous innings as opener included scores of 12, 11 not out, 6, 91 not out, 31 and 0, with his highest score coming in the series against the West Indies.
On the back of that lean run of form, Smith's ICC Test rankings points dropped below 800 for the first time since 2014. The worrying 10-year low saw Smith drop one place to third in the ICC Test batting standings behind England's Joe Root and No.1-ranked batter Kane Williamson.
Smith would have been desperate to address his worrying slump and hit back at the many critics who've questioned his place at the top of the order. Unfortunately for the 34-year-old, he merely gave the detractors more ammunition after presenting debutant Ben Sears with his first Test wicket for New Zealand.
The Aussie star had battled his way onto 11 but decided to leave a delivery from Sears that swung and seamed in and hit him on the pads. The ball pitched outside the line of Smith's off stump but he didn't offer a shot, prompting umpire Nitin Menon to give him out LBW.
An incredulous Smith consulted with opening partner Usman Khawaja before sending it upstairs to the DRS for review. Replays indicated the ball was hitting part of Smith's off stump, meaning the umpire's original decision stood.
Steve Smith cops backlash after latest flop
Smith was clearly not happy with the dismissal and stormed off back to the pavilion, in scenes described as 'painful' by some viewers. Others questioned his future as a Test opener for Australia after declaring the experiment a failure and calling for him to move back down the order.
Steve Smith failed again in the opening Position. In Test Matches, it's never easy to open against hard ball.
Apart from one inning, he has been completed disaster. He really need to think about this decision again. pic.twitter.com/ritqK1v6Sb— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) March 8, 2024
Drop Marnus,move Smith to 3,play another opener. This ridiculous idea of Steve Smith opening has to stop.
— Srinivas R (@srini_r_twit) March 8, 2024
Steve Smith reacting like he's unlucky there. Dunno about that considering where the bat was #NZvAUS
— Daniel Brettig 🏏 (@danbrettig) March 8, 2024
Ben Sears gets Steve Smith as his first test wicket. Thats a big one, man is not an opener #NZvAUS
— 𝑨𝒊𝒎𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 ♛♕ (@ethauline) March 8, 2024
Steve Smith seems genuinely shocked that a ball that he hasn’t offered a shot to which has stayed down and would have knocked off stump out of the ground has been given LBW. #NZvAUS
— Lachlan Jeffery (@LachlanJeffery) March 8, 2024
Wow the Steve smith experience is going well
— Around and around (@TheMightyOz77) March 8, 2024
It’s getting more and more painful watching Steve Smith opening the batting. #NZvAUS
— zac_ (@zac_jennings91) March 8, 2024
The Aussies soon found themselves two wickets down when Matt Henry beat Khawaja (16) all ends up. The Aussie opener tried to guide the ball from the Kiwi paceman down the leg side but his mistimed shot brushed a pad before clattering into the stumps.
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc star with the ball
Australia's dismissals came after a sensational display in the field, highlighted by Hazlewood's five-wicket haul and Starc's superb slice of history. Starc went into day one needing the solitary wicket to equal legendary quick Lillee's all-time Test record (355 wickets) but ended up snaring three to move into outright fourth for Australia with 357 scalps.
It leaves Glenn McGrath (563) as the only Australian fast bowler with more Test wickets than Starc. The veteran quick kicked things off after dismissing Will Young for 14 thanks to a superb catch by Mitch Marsh at third slip. Starc snared two more wickets in the second session when he tempted Glenn Phillips into a shot that was gloved by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. He then trapped Scott Kuggeleijn in front for a golden duck on the very next ball but was unable to complete the hat-trick.
While Starc's record-breaking heroics were impressive, Hazlewood was undoubtedly the pick of the Aussie bowlers. The ever-reliable paceman consolidated Starc's first wicket by removing Tom Latham (38), Kane Williamson (17), Rachin Ravindra (4) and Daryl Mitchell (4) either side of lunch.
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Williamson - playing in his 100th Test alongside captain Tim Southee - was the only one of Hazlewood's victims that wasn't caught behind. Instead, he was trapped LBW off a superb delivery from the Aussie fast bowler. Cameron Green and Cummins were the other two wicket-takers for Australia, with spinner Nathan Lyon going wicket-less.
New Zealand's total of 162 only came after tailenders Henry (29) and Southee (26) combined for the most assured partnership for the hosts. The pair found the boundary regularly in their defiant 55-run stand, before Hazlewood finally sent Henry packing to put an end to the home side's first innings.
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