Suspended Australian cricketer and former Australian skipper Steven Smith recently provided the match-winning all-round performances in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League 2018 (CPL 2018). As a bowler, Smith emulated the former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi and succeeded on it.
On Wednesday, Smith’s Barbados Tridents beat Jamaica Tallawahs by just two runs where Smith played a heroic role by scoring 63 runs and taking two wickets for his team.
Jamaica decided to field first after winning the toss in that CPL game. After a poor start as Barbados was struggling on 39/3, Smith played the saviour role for the team along with Shai Hope as the duo put an impressive and crucial 103-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
While Hope scored 43 off 35 balls (2 fours and 3 sixes), Smith was dismissed in the last over of the innings after scoring 63 runs off 44 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Their brilliant knocks helped Barbados to manage 156/6 at the end of 50 overs.
During Jamaica’s innings in the game, when the openers Glenn Phillips and Johnson Charles were well set in the crease with the 80-run partnership, Smith dismissed both of them in the same over and provided the path for his team to make a comeback. His team Barbados succeeded at the end as they snatched a thrilling 2-run victory by restricting Jamaica to 154/3 at the end of 20 overs.
Leg-spinner Steven Smith changed his bowling technique and emulated former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s bowling action who was a famous leg-spinner. Smith totally succeeded on it as his bowling figure was 3-0-19-2.
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After the end of the match, Smith won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant all-round performances in the game.
At the presentation ceremony, Smith said, “I’ve changed a few things – I’m trying to base my action off Shahid Afridi actually, and try and bowl quite fast and into the wicket. There wasn’t a heap of bounce on this wicket so you could almost hit that back-of-a-length and make them go across the line. Fortunately, it worked tonight.
“The bloke’s played for a long time. He’s been a terrific leg-spinner. As I’m getting a bit older I can’t walk in anymore and bowl as fast as I need to, so I’ve got a bit more momentum through my run-up so I can get the ball down a bit quicker, otherwise it just goes miles. So yeah, change it up and it works.”
