Ashes 2019: ICC reveals secret behind Steve Smith’s superhuman form

Former Australia captain Steve Smith has picked up his form from where he had left it before the year-long ban in international cricket. The 30-year-old slammed yet another hundred, this time a double, in the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford to take his team to an advantageous position on Day 2.

Smith missed the third Test at Leeds after suffering a blow caused by a bouncer from Jofra Archer in the second Test at Lord’s. He has already slammed two centuries in the first Test at Edgbaston and hit a 92 at Lord’s before picking up the ton in Manchester. It was Smith’s 26th ton in the long format and the sixth in the last eight Tests against England.

Smith put up 116 runs with Marnus Labuschagne (67) and 142 runs with captain Tim Paine (58) before converting his hundred into a double century. Meanwhile, as the former Australia captain went from strength to strength, something funny happened on the ground and the International Cricket Council (ICC) came up with an apt observation.

It so happened that Smith was taking guard to play a delivery from Archer and a beachball rolled onto the pitch. It went towards the batsman and he swept it away out of the square leg boundary. The ICC at once jumped onto it and tweeted a picture of Smith sweeping the big ball with the caption: “How most batsmen see them vs How Steve Smith sees them.”

How most batsmen see them.
????
How Steve Smith sees them. pic.twitter.com/i9WqQwkQRr

— ICC (@ICC) September 5, 2019

Smith toppled Kohli from No.1 position in Test batting

Smith was the world’s No.1 Test batsman when got slapped by the ban after the Sandpapergate scandal. He was subsequently replaced by India captain Virat Kohli who played quite a few big knocks in the last year. But as the latter failed to score much runs in the recent series against the West Indies, Smith came back to reclaim his position. Smith has 26 hundreds from 66 Tests at the moment as against Kohli’s 25 from 79.

Smith resumed on his overnight score of 60 on Day 2 and though he was troubled on occasions by Archer, he continued to score runs and completed his third century of the series in 160 balls.

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