Ashes 2019 | Weird how Steve Smith survives bad shots, quips Jofra Archer

Steve Smith continued his return to the format that he has dominated for yet another innings as he smoked the English bowlers for 80 runs in the first innings of the final Test at The Oval. The Aussie star has been sublime since his return from a one year ban for Sandpaper-gate and has looked unstoppable at times in the ongoing series. 

However, Jofra Archer, the only bowler who seemed to trouble Smith in the Ashes, has come out and said that Smith rides his luck at times and somehow manages to escape the repercussions. 

“We know he’s going to miss one, though, and today just proves it. Funnily enough, the last person he missed one off was Woakes [at Lord’s],” Archer told reporters after Day 2, reported Fox News.

“It’s weird, you know. Every time he bats, I don’t know what it is. He literally cannot get out. If he plays a bad shot, the ball lands in no man’s land. For the whole series. Obviously he’s a good batter, he’s got a good temperament, but I don’t know what it is: the ball never ever goes to hand.”

Reports had suggested that Smith had been battling “a bit of flu” in the first innings of The Oval Test. Archer concurred with the report stating, “ He didn’t look himself today ... didn’t look as nailed on as he usually is.”