Ashes 2019: Shoaib Akhtar Slams Jofra Archer for His Attitude Towards Steve Smith

Former Pakistan pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar slammed England pacer Jofra Archer for not checking up on injured Steve Smith after his bouncer hit Smith on the neck. The 148 km bouncer hit Smith and left him retiring hurt because of the impact. The former Australia captain, however, walked into bat after 45 minutes. He was finally departed for 92 on Day 4 of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s when Chris Woakes trapped him before the stumps.

“Bouncers are a part & parcel of the game but whenever a bowler hits a batsman on the head and he falls, courtesy requires that the bowler must go & check on him. It was not nice of Archer to just walk away while Smith was in pain. I was always the first one to run to the batsman,” Shoaib Akhtar took to Twitter and shared on Sunday.

However, Smith’s injury brought the bad news as well. Although physios from both England and Australia attended Smith on the ground in order to have a concussion test, the crowd booed the player when he was walking off the field.

However, Steve Smith has been ruled out of the second Test due to a failed concussion Test. Marnus Labuschagne stood in for Smith on Sunday after the ICC approved an application sent by Cricket Australia.

A statement from Cricket Australia said, “In terms of Steve’s availability for the third Test, this will be considered over the coming days but the short turnaround to the next Test is not in his favour. Steve’s fitness will be assessed on an ongoing basis.”

“Steve has been closely monitored by medical staff overnight and this morning reported that after sleeping well, he woke with ‘a bit of a headache and a feeling of grogginess’,” said a statement of Cricket Australia. “As part of the Cricket Australia concussion protocol, repeat testing of Steve Smith was also performed this morning and demonstrated some deterioration, which is consistent with the emergence of the symptoms he was reporting.”

The right-handed batsman has been in a great form who scored twin tons in the first Test match. He became only the fifth Australian to score two centuries in both innings of Ashes Test. He also surpassed Virat Kohli to become the second-fastest batsman to hit 25 Test centuries.

However, it’s not yet decided whether he would take part in the third test, starting from August 22.