Steve Smith was looking at his best in the second Ashes Test between Australia and England. The opposition bowlers were looking hopeless as Smith was racing towards his third successive century in the series. But that’s when Jofra Archer struck. The English bowler’s bouncer landed flush on Smith’s neck as the batsman fell directly to the ground. Smith was taken by the physio as he was treated for concussion-related injuries.
The former Australia captain eventually came back to bat but the blow ruled him out of the 2nd Test as Marnus Labuschagne became the first concussion substitute in Test history.
Archer has been criticized on social media by Shoaib Akhtar and fans for his bouncer and his reaction after the incident. However, like many of his old ‘prophecy’ tweets that have been trending on social media, another one has surfaced after the Smith incident.
Archer had tweeted six years ago in March, 2013 that, ‘All batsmen buy 2 helmets cause went we meet they will be in use.’
Smith was batting on 80 when he was struck by the lethal Archer bouncer. He came out to bat again in the innings and got out after scoring 92 runs. The Australia team management was, however, criticized was letting Smith bat even after he had been diagnosed for concussion. But Cricket Australia has defended the team doctor who allowed Smith to resume his innings. The physio said that Smith did not have concussion at the time and that is why he was allowed to bat.
{{/usCountry}}Smith was batting on 80 when he was struck by the lethal Archer bouncer. He came out to bat again in the innings and got out after scoring 92 runs. The Australia team management was, however, criticized was letting Smith bat even after he had been diagnosed for concussion. But Cricket Australia has defended the team doctor who allowed Smith to resume his innings. The physio said that Smith did not have concussion at the time and that is why he was allowed to bat.
{{/usCountry}}“The reality is only about one in five or six head impacts end up in concussion,” said Kountouris, who added that Cricket Australia’s research showed delayed concussion accounted for up to 30 percent of those cases.
“If we pulled out every player who had a head impact, we’d be pulling out 80 per cent of players who don’t have a concussion and taking them out of the game. So that would be an overreaction.”
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“He didn’t have a concussion at the time (Saturday),” he said. “If we took him out of the game, we would have been leaving him out of the game for no reason other than what we saw on the field.
“Our doctor is an expert in his field. He’s trained to pick up even the minor signs of concussion. Everything he did was according to the protocol, he was very thorough and ... we’re 100% happy with what happened over there.”
The third test starts on Thursday in Leeds.