The Ashes 2025-26: Jamie Smith dismissed in dismal fashion for England against Australia in fifth Test
On 22 Smith was caught at cover only for replays to show Green had gone over. On the next ball, Smith got between wicketkeeper Alex Carey and Beau Webster for the first over.
Smith also outpaced Green as he had 30 points and mismissed a pull-up from halftime at 34.
This latest horror show in Sydney comes at the end of an incredibly disappointing Ashes campaign for Smith, continuing a poor run that began in the summer.
After Smith scored an astonishing 184 in the second Test against India at Edgbaston in July, his batting average remained at almost 59. Eight matches later, this rate dropped to 42.
He only passed 50 once in Australia. He could not adapt to the large boundaries in Perth in the first Test and was eliminated.
In the second Test in Brisbane, on his debut with the pink ball, he missed two crucial chances behind the stumps. The 25-year-old took his highest score of the series with a 60 in the second innings of the third Test in Adelaide, but left Mitchell Starc behind just as he was giving England hope of an improbable escape.
Before the fifth Test in Sydney, he was left out of England’s white-ball squads for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka and the subsequent T20 World Cup.
Smith has the second-highest batting average of a gloveman who has appeared in at least 20 Tests for England, but his slump in form could leave doubts over his place this summer.
“Jamie Smith is nowhere near the rhythm he needs to be,” said former England captain Michael Vaughan.
“The England team need to start learning and accepting. I read something that said Jamie Smith would probably get a pat on the back for trying to continue playing.”
“That’s the culture that’s been created in the England side and that’s why they’ve failed on this tour. There are times when it’s necessary to step up, but when it’s this close to lunch and Marnus Labuschagne is their bowling bouncer. I can’t accept that. That sums up the England side.”
