Steve Smith’s unique way of leaving the ball was at display on day three of Lord’s Test (Source: Twitter)Steve Smith is revolutionising shouldering arms in Test cricket and taking it to a whole new level. On a rain-affected day three of the Lord’s Test which saw only 24.1 overs being bowled, Smith gave the crowd some entertainment, not with his strokeplay but his unorthodox style of leaving the ball.
There have been players like Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and others who watched the ball closely to get used to the bounce and swing but there has never been someone like Smith. The 30-year-old hops, shuffles, gets behind the line of the ball, gets his bat across and even turns around to face the wicketkeeper after leaving the ball.
Cricket experts must be looking for a term to describe this particular art of leaving the ball from former Australian captain as he makes the dot balls a joy to watch for the audience. England Cricket’s Facebook page even made a video out of his unique leave compilation.
Twitterati had their fun explaining Smith’s batting, few cricketers were impressed by the ‘entertaining’ leaves as well:
You know what they say, ‘there’s only three kinds of leave..’
1. Good
2. Bad
3. Steve Smith— Laura Caughey (@el_cee17) August 16, 2019
Steve Smith leaving the ball is one of the funniest things you’ll see in cricket 😂💃🏻 #Ashes #flare
— Megan Schutt (@megan_schutt) August 16, 2019
Steve Smith leaving the ball is the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in a long time 😂😂👏🏽 #Ashes pic.twitter.com/nuuyRrDpaJ
— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) August 16, 2019
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Steve Smith after every ball today #Ashes #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/tDmOki8HFf
— Ryan Cuthbert (@ryan_123_) August 16, 2019
I knew I had seen Steve Smith’s ball leaving technique somewhere before. #Ashes #Cricket pic.twitter.com/d2tj4r7Wxw
— Samuel Dawson (@SamuelRDawson) August 16, 2019
Steve Smith is George Michael from AD in every way. Right down to the… #Ashes pic.twitter.com/ltfnUEeM0u
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) August 16, 2019
Steve Smith in between each delivery. #Ashes pic.twitter.com/p4ukpcYGje
— Oli King (@MrKingTwit) August 16, 2019
At day three stumps, he was batting on 13 from 40 deliveries. He is trying to stitch a partnership with Mathew Wade after Australia lost Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja and Travis Head on day three.
Steve Smith is in raging form after scoring two Test hundreds on his Test comeback at Edgbaston, leading his team to victory. Australia will be banking on him as they were still trailing by 178 runs at day three stumps.
