Jamie Smith has revealed that he found his first three weeks as a Test cricketer “mentally draining”, but he is open to shuffling up England’s batting order to No. 6 against Sri Lanka in Ben Stokes’ absence.
Jamie Smith kept wicket tidily throughout England’s 3-0 clean sweep against West Indies and made two attacking half-centuries down the order: 70 from No. 7 on debut at Lord’s, and 95 from No. 8 at Edgbaston after Mark Wood was deployed as a night watcher. And if England opt to replace the hamstrung Stokes with a seamer, Jamie Smith could be promoted to No. 6.
Jamie Smith international and domestic career
England have opted against calling up a replacement for Stokes, which leaves them with two options as to how they balance their side against Sri Lanka. They could bring in the uncapped Essex batter Jordan Cox at No. 6, leaving them with four frontline bowling options; or they could shift Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes up a spot, and replace Stokes with a seamer in Matthew Potts or Olly Stone.
Jamie Smith has primarily batted at No. 4 in the Championship over the last two seasons – albeit as a specialist batter, with Ben Foakes taking the gloves for Surrey. Keeping wicket contributed to his workload against West Indies, and he admitted that he found Test cricket “more intense” than anything he had experienced previously in his career.
It prompted Smith to ask Birmingham Phoenix, his Hundred team, to miss their match against Southern Brave straight after the third Test. “It was nice to have just an extra week of a breather, basically,” he said.
“I was very thankful to Birmingham for allowing that to happen.” He is now back involved as they push for a spot in the knockout stages. The break allowed Jamie Smith time to evaluate his first few weeks as a Test cricketer. Playing in the Hundred has also given Jamie Smith the chance to continue keeping ahead of the Sri Lanka series.
Jamie Smith made his international debut last September in an ODI series against Ireland and England see him as an all-format player in the long term. But it will be a challenge to manage his workload in the next four months: they have a white-ball series against Australia straight after the Sri Lanka Tests, followed by Test series in Pakistan and New Zealand and a white-ball tour against West Indies sandwiched between them. Jamie Smith has opened up on his experience and is ok to bat at No 6 in Sri Lankan test series.
Jamie Smith open to batting at No. 6 against Sri Lanka in Ben Stokes’ absence
England’s wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith has asserted that he is open to moving up the order to No. 6 in Ben Stokes’ absence in the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. The 24-year-old is confident of falling back on his County experience in case the challenge is thrown at him.
England will have to tweak their playing XI for the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, beginning on August 21, with skipper Stokes being ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury he picked up during The Hundred.
Jamie Smith made an impressive Test debut against West Indies in July in a home series. Sharing his thoughts on the possibility of batting at No. 6 against Sri Lanka in the absence of Stokes, he said (as quoted by ESPNCricinfo):
“It won’t bother me at all. One of the things that’s been great in my career so far is I feel like I’ve batted in a variety of different positions and roles anyway, and I’ve gained some of these experiences. They might be at a lesser level in the County Championship, but I still feel like I’ve been able to adapt and get some experience under my belt – and the difference between No. 7 and No. 6 isn’t a massively great one anyway.”
The 24-year-old contributed 207 runs in four innings during the Test series against West Indies. He scored a memorable 70 on debut at Lord’s and 95 in the third and final Test in Birmingham.
Jamie Smith reflects on Test debut
Apart from batting in the lower order, Smith was also England’s designated stumper during the three-match series against West Indies. He admitted that the dual role of batting and keeping was mentally draining.
“The games didn’t go five days, but for me, it was just mentally quite draining. It probably took more out of me than I was expecting, with all the emotions that came with it, the expectation, and a bit of added pressure… It’s been different for me. Mentally and physically, it was quite a lot in three weeks, going from county cricket into that, and with the potential for more stuff to come,” he commented in the same interview.
With England not naming a replacement for Stokes for the Test series against Sri Lanka, the hosts have the option to hand a Test debut to Jordan Cox at No. 6. Alternately, they could shift Smith and Chris Woakes up a spot in the batting order and replace Stokes with a pacer – Matthew Potts or Olly Stone.