Steve Smith has revealed he suspects a shot from Zak Crawley early in England’s second innings in the MCG Ashes Test softened the seam on the ball and made it much easier for batting. And it’s all because of an inanimate object just beyond the boundary.
England chased down 175 for victory with four wickets in hand – scoring the highest total of the match in the fourth innings. It gave the tourists their first Test win on Australian soil in 15 years.
Batting looked very tricky on a treacherous MCG pitch, but seemed to be a lot easier for England on day two. The 175 target looked to be very difficult on a pitch offering plenty of assistance to the seamers, but England did it fairly easy in the end.
A ball that thumped into the LED signage beyond the boundary (R) made batting a lot easier for England. Image: Getty/Fox Cricket
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Smith said he believes a ball that clattered into the LED signage beyond the boundary softened the seam and made batting a lot easier for England. With the tourists on 0-15 in the fourth over, Crawley smashed a straight six down the ground off Michael Neser.
The ball thumped into the LED signage on the full, and Smith suspects it damaged the seam to the extent it was doing as much off the pitch after that. “A couple of their heavy blows softened our seam quite a bit and probably didn’t offer quite as much as it had for the rest of the game after that, so credit to them,” he said.
“They obviously played some shots where they hit the ball pretty hard and then I think Zak hit one into the LED boards, and that definitely softened the seam, no doubt about it. But credit to them for doing that.”
A straight six from Zak Crawley sent the ball into the LED boards on the full. Image: Fox Cricket
England well aware of how LED boards can change new ball
Crawley and Ben Duckett were very aggressive in the opening partnership, with England players previously noting the effects the LED boards can have on a new ball. There was an instance in a Test against the West Indies last year when a ball that Mikyle Lewis hit into the advertising boards allowed the England bowlers to extract some reverse swing.
“I think [the ball] did a fair amount for the whole game – just probably when the ball got softened from a few lusty blows from their top order today, where it started to go a little bit less, potentially,” Smith said. “Without that, it [the pitch] was still going to offer plenty.”
England captain Ben Stokes said: “That opening partnership between Zak and Ducky was a huge, huge reason as to why we chased that total down. There was only one way of going about chasing that tally down, which was to go out there and try to put the pressure on from ball one.”