Jamie Smith in a ‘great place' to attack India in marquee Test series

Independent

2 days ago

Jamie Smith heads into England's marquee Test series against India with a spring in his step after a boom-or-bust approach helped to seal a one-day clean sweep of the West Indies.
Promoted to open in the Metro Bank series, Smith repaid the faith by crunching 64 off 28 deliveries – his first ODI fifty – on his home ground of the Kia Oval as England clinched a 3-0 victory in style.
His barnstorming innings was all the more impressive following a duck at Sophia Gardens 48 hours earlier but Smith is prepared to tread the fine line between success and failure.
'There will be times when it is a bit like feast or famine,' he said. 'It's probably the nature of how I'm going to go about it. I won't be consistent by blocking or things like that to try and get a score.
'I'll always be trying to be positive and put us on the front foot regardless of if I've had a few failures or not. That's how I'll be judging myself.
'It's not a natural role. I was a little bit surprised (to be chosen to open). I guess for me it is a stepping stone. If that spot is at the top of the order, I'll happily do that.'
Before last week, Smith had never opened in List A cricket before but he believes facing the new ball in ODIs represents ideal preparation for his next assignment of facing India's Jasprit Bumrah and co.
'There's an opportunity there to go and play and experience opening when the ball is still swinging and nipping around against quality bowlers – it's definitely great practice for India,' Smith said.
'The majority of my experience hasn't been great for Surrey when I opened when I was a little bit younger and a bit afraid to hit the ball. So it was nice to go out there and play with the freedom.'
With Smith not in England's squad for three T20s against the Windies, he can now devote all his attention to the much-awaited five-Test India series that gets under way at Headingley on June 20.
Surrey team-mate Gus Atkinson is a major doubt for the opener with a right hamstring strain he suffered in last month's win over Zimbabwe, with fellow quicks Jofra Archer and Mark Wood also on the sidelines.
Atkinson was withdrawn from the ODI series squad to face the Windies but England had expected him to be fine to spearhead their fast bowling attack against India following a breakout 2024.
England will announce their squad in the next few days, with Smith certain to resume wicketkeeping duties and batting down the order, meaning he does not immediately have to go up against Bumrah, the world's top-ranked Test bowler.
'Hopefully down at seven, I can watch other lads go and face him first, but it's certainly a challenge,' Smith added. 'It feels like we're close to it now, we're almost there.
'One sort of knows the magnitude of what you've got coming up but if we can try and stay in the present then it's a good time to test ourselves against the best.
'We feel in a really good place and I think everyone's really excited and in a great place to go and attack them.'