England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow yet again hogged the limelight after he made sure to rile up the Australia vice-captain Steve Smith (2) post his dismissal during the second innings of the ongoing third Ashes 2023 Test at Headingley Cricket Ground.
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It all happened during the final session of Day 2. England all-rounder Moeen Ali had just dismissed Marnus Labuschagne (33) in his previous over. Bowling to the incoming batter Smith in his very next over (28th of the innings), Ali floated a rather harmless full delivery on his pads. Perhaps in a bid to clear the infield, a very unlike Smith became the victim of a soft dismissal as he hit the ball straight into the hands of the fielder stationed at mid-wicket.
No points for guessing, the 34-year-old would have been kicking himself from the inside for gifting his wicket away to the home side without them having to break a sweat. It was at this very moment that Bairstow decided to hand him a send-off, which did not entertain Australia’s best batter one bit.
Jonny Bairstow Send Off Riles Up Steve Smith At Headingley
What followed was a brief little verbal spat between Bairstow and Smith just as the latter was on his long walk back towards the dressing room. Just as fans were wondering what exactly had the English wicket-keeper remarked which had irked Smith, Sky Sports made sure to live telecast the stump mic recording of the exchange between the two.
Bairstow – “See ya, Smudge”.
Smith – “What was that mate? Hey, shut up!”
Bairstow – “I said, ‘Cheers, see ya later'”.
After this point, Smith perhaps might have realized that there was nothing really offensive that Bairstow had remarked and it was in fit of anger which resulted in his overreaction. Having said that, it is just a mere assumption and only Smith could confirm what really had riled him up.
Smudge Meaning In Cricket
Steve Smith has been nicknamed as ‘Smudge’ by his Australian teammates for quite some years now. During an interview in the year 2017, he had revealed that he was given this name by the former Australian batter Michael Hussey.
“In England, people with the last name Smith, well, cricketers anyway, all seem to get called Smudge. Huss [Hussey] had obviously played a lot of county cricket over there and he was the one that started it. After that, it just stuck,” Smith was quoted as saying.
The word ‘Smith’ and its relation with ‘Smudge’ has to do with a blacksmith. During the World War years in the UK, the nickname ‘Smudger’ Smith was for the people bearing the title ‘Smith’ due to a blacksmith being perpetually covered in smudge, or soot.
Steve Smith Becomes Moeen Ali’s 200th Test Wicket
Playing his 100th Test match, Smith became the second Australian batter to get out to Ali during the innings. Ali and English fans will never forget that two star batters in Labuschagne and Smith were his 199th and 200th victims in Test cricket respectively.
Post Smith’s dismissal, Ali became the 16th English bowler with 200 wickets (or more) in Test cricket. Veteran pacers James Anderson (688) and Stuart Broad (596) are the only other players in the current England Test squad to have surpassed this particular milestone figure. The only other English spinners to have picked these many Test wickets are Derek Underwood (297) and Graeme Swann (255).
