Watch: Steve Smith tries switch-hit on free hit against England, gets it horribly wrong
Steve Smith (Image Credit: Twitter)
Former Australia skipper Steve Smith was famous for being a T20 specialist when he first came into the international scene. There was a time when he used to play in the lower-middle order and play some fancy strokes. However, after a while, he was promoted to the batting order and he started playing that way. His game evolved for the demands of a top-order batter.
Now, he is struggling for his place in the T20I setup. Also, he is not the same batter while trying to play innovative strokes. The same happened in the ongoing second ODI against England in Sydney. In the 32nd over of the innings, he was facing a free hit from Adil Rashid. The right-hander tried to play switch.
On the other hand, the leggie saw him making his moves and bowled a slow leg-spinner outside off stump. Because of this, the New South Wales player failed to connect the ball and the free hit went in vain.
Watch the video here
https://twitter.com/cricketcomau/status/1593840670069862400?s=20&t=6oKN_BsU1kevtoAw6Uq74w
Meanwhile, the former Australia skipper is carrying his batting form from the last game. He got out on 94 and missed out on another ODI hundred at this ground and in his career. In the first ODI, he scored 80 not out in 78 balls to take the team over the line. Notably, Smith has done well on his home turf, i.e, Sydney Cricket Ground at the highest level. In the 16 ODIs, he scored 943 runs averaging 62.86 including four hundred and as many fifties (Including today’s innings).
Talking about the game, his innings have helped the team to recover from 43/2 as both openers, David Warner and Travis Head got out. At the time of writing, the Aussies have amassed 242/5 in 44.2 overs. They would look to go beyond 300 runs which might be above par score given that chasing on this ground has never been easy. The likes of Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis have all the ability to take the team beyond the 300-run mark.
