Watch: Steve Smith charges towards Bairstow after being sledged in 3rd Ashes Test, England star replies

The way Smith reacted, it seemed he was sledged with some harsh words by Bairstow but videos later proved that all the England keeper said was "See ya Smudge."

Jonny Bairstow hasn't done much with bat in this Ashes apart from a half-century in the first Test and his glovework behind the stumps has been rather ordinary but the towering English cricketer has somehow or the other managed to stay in the headlines. It was Bairstow's dismissal on Day 5 of the second Test that sparked the spirit of cricket debate, a never-ending war of words between the current and former cricketers of England and Australia.

Steve Smith was angry after being sledged by Jonny Bairstow

That Bairstow hadn't forgotten his mode of dismissal - he was stumped by Alex Carey for wandering outside his crease while the ball was still in play - in the second Test was evident when the right-hander turned around and kept his bat on the crease while looking straight at the Australian slip cordon even at the end of an over in the third Test in Headingley. And on Day 2, Bairstow once again managed to rile up the Australians.

This time it was Steve Smith's turn. The incident happened in the 28th over of Australia's second innings. Smith tried an uncharacteristic flick off Moeen Ali's flighted delivery and ended up providing a simple catch to short mid-wicket. As soon as the catch was taken by Ben Duckett, Bairstow appeared to have said something to Smith when he turned to walk back to the pavilion.

Smith, already unhappy with the shot he played, stopped in his tracks and asked "What was that mate? Hey?". Bairstow stopped his celebrations and said, "I said 'cheers, see ya later'."

Smith, playing his 100th Test, decided not to escalate matters further and took the long walk back to the pavilion after scoring 2 off 9 balls.

The way Smith reacted, it seemed the former Australia captain was sledged with some harsh words by Bairstow but videos circulated later proved that all the England keeper-batter said was "See ya Smudge (nickname of Smith)."

Video: Angry Smith turns around to confront Bairstow after England star sledges him

Smith's reaction perhaps had a lot do with how he got out than Bairstow's words. The fact that it happened just a couple of overs after another one of Australia's batting mainstays, Marnus Labuschagne, threw his wicket away to Moeen Ali.

Travis Head and Mitch Marsh got together to ensure there was no further damage. Head, on 18, and Marsh, on 17, negotiated the last 12.1 overs to advance Australia to 116-4 in its second innings at stumps.

England was all out for 237 before tea after captain Ben Stokes muscled 80 runs and shepherded the tail to get them within 26 runs of Australia's first total.

Australia captain Pat Cummins banked 6-91 for his first five-wicket haul in England.