From time to time around the Oval press box, little English-accented groans of annoyance burbled through the quiet. “Oh God. Here we go again.” Steve Smith was the cause, across the first two days of the World Test Championship final. Through the tinted windows placed just behind the bowler’s arm at the Vauxhall End was the perfect view of him, ball after ball: setting up outside leg stump, stepping across, nudging off his pads for a run on his way to 121.
For British scribes who covered their last home Ashes in 2019, it was simply Smith picking up where he left off. They saw him do exactly that to the tune of 774 runs last time around, and any time your tally equals an ABC radio callsign you’re doing well. They can’t believe that between that series and now Smith returned to the realm of batting mortals. They can look at the numbers – 28 Tests, four centuries – but they can’t quite believe what they weren’t there to see.
