Nine words.

That’s all it took for Steve Smith to put Jofra Archer firmly in his place as the two Ashes foes engaged in a fiery exchange as Australia romped to an eight wicket win in the second Test.

Archer was consistently hitting speeds of 150 kmph in the fourth innings, despite Australia needing only 65 runs to take a 2-0 series lead.

As the ninth over began, and Smith having only just entered the crease, Archer fired down a searing short ball. Smith dispatched it to the boundary with an impressive pull shot.

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The next delivery was once again short and Smith attempted to lift it over the slips cordon — sparking a reaction from Archer, delivering a few verbal barbs at the Aussie skipper.

According to Nine Newspapers, Archer told Smith he only “likes to play shots when there’s not much on the scoreboard”.

It lit a fuse under Smith who returnedf serve, the stump microphone picking up the exchange.

“You bowl fast when there’s nothing going on champion”,” Smith said.

No surprises where the next ball would be aimed at.

Archer honed in on Smith’s helmet, with a wayward pull shot catching the top edge of his bat, flying over the slips and away for four.

Archer and Smith then came face-to-face once again with more words exchanged.

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“Emotion enters the series, and that’s England’s best chance, make it emotional,” Fox Cricket’s Kerry O’Keeffe said.

“If this is short it’s going.”

O’Keeffe was right, and Smith this time was up to the task, pulling Archer’s searing bouncer for six — with the speed gun clocking that ball at 150.5 kmph.

It sent the Gabba crowd into raptures with Archer only able to turn on his heel and back to him mark.

“Steven Smith, he takes him on, what an answer,” Mark Howard said.

Attention then turned as to why Archer chose this moment, with the game gone, to turn up the speeds and get in the face of the Australians.

“Where were you when they needed you?” Mark Waugh said, while O’Keeffe focused on Smith’s use of the word ‘champion’.

“That’s the first grader to a sixth-grader, ease up champion,” he said.

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Post-match former English skipper Michael Vaughan echoed Waugh’s sentiment and urged him to deliver in the first innings in the upcoming Adelaide Test.

“Great theatre but I will be honest, I want to see Jofra bowling like this in the first innings in Adelaide,” he said.

“I want to see Jofra run in and bowl 150 kmph, he’s got it in him, we have seen that. England are struggling to get 20 wickets.

“He’s the one bowler I think could crack open an opportunity for England, but he has to run in and bowl like that in the first innings.

“Not when you’re defending 65 and the lights are on and you’re only going to bowl four or five overs, I want to see that on the first morning.”

Smith also played down the encounter after the victory, saying: “That stays on the field, it was good banter. He’s a good competitor, he comes hard at you so it was good fun.”

Asked about the incident in his post-natch press conference Smith was once again tight-lipped.

“ What history do I have with him?” Smith said.

“He was bowling good pace. Not really too sure what he said, not sure what I said either. It’s not really any of your business either so we’ll leave it out there,” Smith added with a laugh.

Archer struck Smith in the neck during the 2019 Ashes in a battle that defined the series. Smith was forced out of the next Test with concussion but has been at pains to point out Archer has never dismissed him in the five-day format.