Steve Smith: I wasn’t nervous

Australia’s stand-in skipper Steven Smith says team stayed calm despite Jos Buttler’s resistance as hosts beat England by 275 runs to take 2-0 lead

Following Australia’s 275-run victory over England on Monday, stand-in skipper Steven Smith lavished praise on his side, saying the hosts played well and were in control of the game after the first day of second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval.

He added that his team was calm when the visitors showed resistance as they knew a couple of good balls would be enough to secure a win. Australia took the remaining six wickets on Day Five to seal a thumping win and go 2-0 up in the series.

‘Buttler played very well’

“I wasn’t nervous. I think Jos [Buttler] played very well, and played over 200 balls, so it was good resistance along with [Chris] Woakes and Robbo [Ollie Robinson]. We wanted to stay calm because it would take a couple of good balls and a couple of wickets to get the win. I did enjoy captaincy and the guys played well and controlled the game after the first day,” said Smith.

Steven Smith

Earlier, with England resuming Day Five at 82-4, Australia struck on the 13th ball of the day as Ollie Pope poked at a length ball angled across from Mitchell Starc, getting a thick edge to Smith at second slip. Ben Stokes and Buttler (26) joined forces for a resistance show.

But Nathan Lyon got one to slide across and trap Stokes lbw in front of middle and leg-stump. Australia took the DRS and got the on-field decision overturned, resulting in Stokes departing after a resistance of 77 balls.

Post tea, Buttler’s 207-ball effort met a disappointing end as he went too deep in the crease while trying to take a single off Jhye Richardson and disturbed the stumps with his own foot. Getting out hit-wicket was an upsetting end to the wicketkeeper-batter’s resistance in the second innings, where he barely kept a foot wrong until his foot caused his own downfall.

Richardson claims five

Just 3.1 overs later, Richardson completed his return to Test cricket with a maiden five-wicket haul as James Anderson tried to fend away and was caught by Cameron Green at gully.

Brief scores
Australia 473-9d & 230-9d  beat England 236 & 192 (C Woakes 44, R Burns 34; J Richardson 5-42, M Starc 2-43, N Lyon 2-55) by 275 runs

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