A new winner has been born after receiving England’s worst red card in this Ashes series.
The culprit was Jamie Smith, who ended a dodgy innings of 46 on the second day of the SCG tournament by falling behind a powder-puff bouncer from Australian part-time bowler Marnus Labuschagne and holing out at cover just before lunchtime.
Wicket left commentators and pundits stunned with Smith picking out the only fielder in front of the square offside. “Brainless” is Stephen Finn’s interpretation of TNT Sports. “Clueless,” Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton said on his end-of-day podcast.
Test Match Special’s Jonathan Agnew further stated, “I’ve watched a lot of cricket and this is one of the worst dismissals I’ve ever seen.”
Agnew’s co-commentator Alex Hartley chimed in, calling Smith’s death “dirty” and “disgusting” and bemoaning the “lack of discipline”, while former Australia head coach Justin Langer described it as “one of the stupidest shots I’ve ever seen”.
In one word, it was bad. There are myriad reasons, but mainly because England were on track to win 323 and lose five without Joe Root. As the interval neared and the tourists needed to calm down, Smith suffered an incredible brain breakdown.
Smith came under fire from pundits after gifting his wicket to part-time bowler Marnus Labuschagne.
“Smith’s dismissal shows there is a problem on the England side.”
Former England captain Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports News when asked if the batsman’s dismissal was the worst of the winter: “It was exactly that level.
“It was a really poor shot, not just because of the play or because of Labuschagne’s bowling, but because the timing wasn’t right. That’s the problem on this England side.”
“They have a lot of talent but they don’t seem to know the game situation. It was nine minutes to lunch and five overs to the new ball. Just survive and go again.”
“Smith will be very disappointed in the timing of that shot, but it wasn’t just the shot, it was the inning.
“He was caught for a no-ball at cover and was nicked between the slip and the wicketkeeper on the next ball. He played some beautiful shots but he could have been out in the sixth or seventh innings.”
“I hope that at some stage somebody in that dressing room – maybe not tonight, but at the end of the Test – will sit down with him and Harry Brook and say, ‘Sometimes in this series you didn’t make the right choices.’
“England’s set-up was one of the things that didn’t lead to results.”
Atherton added: “This was a set-up for England that didn’t have much of an outcome. After averaging 30 points in 60 Tests they continue to be selected and I can’t think of anyone who was dropped because of a poor shot.”
“There has to be a balance. We don’t want a situation where people are scared to play the game for fear of the ax falling, but it has to be results-based. There has to be consequences.”
Smith’s soft dismissal was a perfect example of why England lost the Ashes after just 11 days of cricket. They’ve played more weird strokes than I can count on this tour.
Labuschagne celebrates Smith’s wicket at SCG
The batsman hit his stride in Perth and produced a stunning collapse when the match was in his hands. A similar sending off in the next game in Brisbane. Tame the whip to midwicket. Reverse sweep failed. Unwise flirting outside the stumps.
England have improved much since the series was effectively lost, but Smith’s mistake highlighted their shortcomings.
They could have, and probably should have, crossed 400 at the SCG, but were dismissed for 384 as that wicket led to a slump of 5-61.
Fight for Smith’s ashes continues in Sydney
It wasn’t Smith’s series. There is only one score above 50 (60 in Adelaide) and the average currently stands at 23.12.
He had been bounced out numerous times and had trouble dealing with nipbackers. Additionally, he struggled with the gloves in the second Test in Brisbane, which was the first time in his career that he played against a pink ball.
Smith averages less than 24 years old in the Ashes series, and is only 150 years old.
In fact, he seems to be a man who needs rest and will be rested soon, having been left out of the squad for the white-ball series in Sri Lanka and the subsequent T20 World Cup in the country and India.
Smith has Test qualities, highlighted by his 184 as he led his team back from 84-5 against India at Edgbaston last summer, but since that knock he followed up with two 88s in the same match and 51 in the next Test at Lord’s, his lone half-century has seen him average 18.54 in seven matches in the format.
After this series defeat, England will need a change, if not in personnel, then in style and, as Hussain said, “understanding the situation”. If Britain had done something like that Down Under, this trip might have been very different.
Smith has done it in the past, but his horrific dismissal in Sydney shows he and his team still have a long way to go.
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
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