Australian skipper Steve Smith admitted that he had to take sleeping pills after a tense day four on the field against England at Adelaide Oval, where both teams were playing the second Ashes Test encounter.
The pendulum of the match was hanging on an even keel after day four, but it was Smith’s decision which put them on the back foot despite dictating the terms in most part of the match.
Addressing media after the conclusion of the game, he revealed “I was a little bit nervous last night. It’s been a pretty tough 24 hours. It’s all part of being captain of your country. Sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision. It’s part of a learning experience. I’ll reflect on some things I can improve in my leadership and captaincy.”
The 28-year-old didn’t enforce the follow-on after gaining a reasonable lead of 215-run and put his batsmen onto the canvas, which seemed to be typically England like. The decision horribly backfired and hosts ended third day’s game at 53/4.
On the following morning, James Anderson and co. made life hard for Aussies and bundled their second essay at 138, Jimmy, the veteran, proved his worth and crack his first fifer on Australian soil. Chasing 354, England off to the best possible start with a fifty plus opening stand between Mark Stoneman and Alastair Cook, but soon things changed pretty drastically and a flurry of wickets inserted England’s skipper Joe Root in the middle. He remained unscratched in front of Starc, Hazelwood and Cummins.
Root’s stubborn knock brought sweat drops on the face of his counterpart, who said he took a pill to sleep a night before the deciding day of Adelaide Test. “I had to have a sleeping pill,” Smith said.
However, Josh Hazelwood crushed England’s last ray of hope from achieving something miraculous. He took squared both overnight batsmen up under his first 11 bowls of the day. Speaking about Hazelwood, the world number-one Test batsman quoted “I could breathe a little more easily then. That’s Josh Hazelwood, that’s what he does.”
Against all expectations, the game concluded in the first session of the day without any glimpse of the fight from Poms and Kangaroos took a 2-0 lead in five-match series after a 120-run victory in Adelaide.
