Jamie Smith (Source – ECB)
England’s assistant coach Paul Collingwood recently came forward and heaped praise on wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith for his performance against Sri Lanka in the second innings of the ongoing third Test. Collingwood also compared Smith to the former legendary Australia cricketer Adam Gilchrist.
Comparing Smith’s performance to that of Gilchrist, he opined that having a destructive batter in the middle order can have a massive impact on the opposition.
It is worth noting that England were in a tough position on Day 3 of the third Test against Sri Lanka. With Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope departing for seven runs each in the second innings, the hosts were in a bothersome position, but Jamie Smith took centre stage and played a resilient knock.
Scoring 67 runs in 50 deliveries, Smith helped England from a score of 82-7 to 140-8 as the hosts managed to post a total of 156 runs in the second innings, giving Sri Lanka a target of 219 runs to chase. The same performance impressed Collingwood as he sang Smith’s praise.
“It’s exciting when he comes in. He’s certainly an entertainer. You go back to the days of when Gilchrist would come in for Australia. It sucks the life out of you as the opposition when someone has the ability to do something like that. In his short Test career, he has shown some great skills,” Collingwood was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.
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Sri Lanka registers famous win
Chasing what looked like a competitive target, Sri Lanka was at ease right from the beginning. The batters gave the side a fast start, surprising the opposition. Pathum Nissanka gave the impetus to the chase and ended up scoring 127* off 124 balls laced with 13 fours and two sixes. Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews supported ably with 30s as the visitors won the match by eight wickets.