Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg believes England’s wicket-keeper Jamie Smith looked like a deer in the headlights while facing Mohammed Siraj on the final day of the fifth Test match at the Kennington Oval. Smith was going to hold the key for the home team as he was the last recognised batter but he struggled to find any momentum against Siraj as the visitors registered a thrilling six-run win.
India’s pack leader at the Oval, kept the ball out of Smith’s reach and got a beautiful shape in outswingers he bowled. After Smith was beaten a couple of times, he danced down the track but could only manage an outside edge. The right-hander was dismissed after scoring only two runs off 20 balls.
Brad Hogg said on his YouTube Channel, “He had a chance to really set his name into the lights of international cricket. The big moment was there, and he was like a deer in the headlights facing those three balls from Siraj.”
Hogg also questioned Shubman Gill’s tactics of having all the fielders in the deep for the last ball of the 85th over against Gus Atkinson.
“There was one moment, Krishna’s final ball to Atkinson. England still needed eight to win at that particular stage, Woakes with one arm, and I’m thinking, ‘Why have you got all the men on the fence?’ If he gets the boundary, then all of a sudden, you’ve got Siraj bowling to a batsman who has only got one hand on the bat.”
Hogg highlighted that Indian bowlers would have faced a tricky situation if Chris Woakes had to bat with a dislocated shoulder.
“If something happened to Woakes, where he actually faced a delivery, and India sitting there going, ‘How do we bowl to Chris Woakes?’ Obviously, you go for a yorker, but if he was picking it out with that one hand, do India have the right to bowl him a bouncer?”
“If they do bowl him a bouncer and get him in the head and he is unconscious, there are huge ramifications moving forward there. I think on the injury front, you’ve got to be very careful,” Hogg added.
Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were the stars for India as they bagged five and four wickets respectively in the second innings.
