Jamie Smith’s dashing 67 in the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Oval on Sunday sparked memories of Australia great Adam Gilchrist for England assistant coach Paul Collingwood on what was an otherwise chastening day for the home side.
England, already 2-0 up in this three-match series, suffered a dramatic top-order collapse as it slumped to 82 for seven on the third day.
Wicketkeeper Smith’s outstanding 50-ball display, including 10 fours and a six, on his Surrey home ground helped it recover to 156 all out in its second innings.
That left Sri Lanka chasing 219 to win its first Test match in England in a decade and at Stumps it was well on its way at 94 for one, with Pathum Nissanka 53 not out - the opener’s second half-century of the match.
Had it not been for the 24-year-old Smith, who has now scored three fifties and a hundred in six Tests, since making his England debut in July, Sri Lanka might already be on the brink of victory.
Former England all-rounder Collingwood played against Gilchrist, an outstanding wicketkeeper-batter renowned for his dynamic run-scoring down the order. He now sees some of the same qualities in rising star Smith.
“He (Smith) is certainly an entertainer,” Collingwood told reporters after Stumps.
“You go back to the days of Adam Gilchrist when he came in at seven for Australia. He (Smith) is going to put a lot of teams under pressure when you have the skills and the power he has. It sucks the life out of the opposition when someone has the ability to do something like that. He’s certainly shown some great skills in his short Test career.”
‘Not one of our better days’
But there was no denying Sri Lanka was on top at the close.
“It certainly hasn’t been one of our better days of Test cricket this year,” said Collingwood. “It’s pretty easy to make the excuse and say it’s complacency but there’s plenty of fun and desire in there. We wanted a clean sweep. The lads are very proud of playing for England, so there’s certainly been no complacency coming into this match. The guys in the dressing room will hold their hands up.”
Collingwood, however, insisted all was not lost for England.
“We still have an opportunity to go and win the match,” he said. “There’s enough in the pitch to get nine wickets but we need a lot of things to go our way.”
Meanwhile Sri Lanka fast-bowling coach Aaqib Javed lauded the tourist’s quicks, with Lahiru Kumara taking four for 21 on Sunday and Vishwa Fernando’s haul of three for 40 including the prize scalp of Joe Root, lbw for 12 to the left-armer’s excellent inswinging yorker.
“If you look at the whole series, our bowlers had already done reasonably well, “ said former Pakistan paceman Javed.
“This game we went for the extra seamer and that paid off... We wanted to do well away from home and the fast bowlers have stood out.”
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