{"id":369906,"date":"2025-12-25T00:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369906\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T00:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:44:11","slug":"ashes-daily-fourth-test-steve-smith-eyesight-brendon-mccullum-england-coach-replacement-monty-panesar-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369906\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashes Daily, Fourth Test, Steve Smith eyesight, Brendon McCullum England coach replacement, Monty Panesar comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stand-in Australian skipper Steve Smith has revealed the events leading up to his late withdrawal from the third Ashes Test. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a former England spinner has named an Australian coach to potentially replace the besieged Brendon McCullum. <\/p>\n

Watch The Ashes 2025\/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Smith, 36, missed the Adelaide Test due to \u201cnausea and dizziness\u201d<\/a> amid vestibular issues he\u2019s experienced intermittently in the past. <\/p>\n

And speaking on the eve of the Boxing Day Test, Smith, who\u2019ll stand in as captain for the injured Pat Cummins, admitted he was \u201call over the place\u201d in the days leading up to Adelaide. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I started batting in Adelaide I didn\u2019t feel great, wasn\u2019t tracking the ball well, had a bit of head stuff going on,\u201d Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThree days out, hit again, played golf that afternoon. I\u2019d already spoken to \u2018Ron\u2019 (coach Andrew McDonald) and was like \u2018I don\u2019t feel great\u2019, so he goes \u2018just try to get out and do some things and see how it goes\u2019. So I played that afternoon, felt awful that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt terrible the next day, didn\u2019t hit or do much. Then I hit the next morning and felt ordinary again. I tried the next day, morning of the game and I just wasn\u2019t … I couldn\u2019t track the ball. Felt dizzy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had my head back and come up (to face), I needed to recalibrate every time my head came up, it was all over the place, and in the end, we made the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite having been cleared to play at the MCG, Smith added he\u2019s \u201cstill talking to people (experts) about\u201d his vestibular troubles. <\/p>\n

Aus announce fresh faces for MCG Test | 09:31<\/p>\n

Under-fire England coach Brendon McCullum faces mounting pressure to retain his position amid a bid to avoid an Ashes whitewash. <\/p>\n

But if things continue not to go according to plan for the Poms, it could be the end of \u2018Bazball\u2019 and time to cast a wide net elsewhere. <\/p>\n

If such a situation was to unfold, former England spinner Monty Panesar says an Australian former Sheffield Shield and Big Bash League coach should be among the considerations. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t do very well, they should look at another coach like Darren Berry,\u201d Panesar told 3AW on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he is brilliant … He knows the system really well. He helped out the young guys in Australian cricket like Travis Head.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Brendon McCullum doesn\u2019t succeed in the next few Test matches, I think he is the guy they should look at. He will help this England team to know how to beat Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite \u201chuge hope\u201d that England could compete in this Ashes series, Panesar retrospectively doubted the visitors\u2019 preparations \u2014 with the side now mired in off-field controversy as it\u2019s investigated by the ECB over excessive drinking<\/a> during a Noosa trip. <\/p>\n

\u201c(Preparation this year) wasn\u2019t taken as seriously as an Ashes period (should be),\u201d Panesar said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia are a tough team, the men are hard. You play against them and they won\u2019t give you an inch because they are a strong side. We\u2019ve underestimated them a bit, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum in particular. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, they are probably putting their hand up and thinking, \u2018we did get the preparation wrong\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stand-in Australian skipper Steve Smith has revealed the events leading up to his late withdrawal from the third…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[91335,63,689,15913,35086,14675,200331,200326,200328,9564,12548,2105,200327,43,2504,198786,160485,29547,87444,44,677,1948,200333,200325,200329,200332,200330,18784,41,39,42,40,44867],"class_list":["post-369906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andrew-mcdonald","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-coach","tag-australian-cricket","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-darren-berry","tag-england-coach-replacement","tag-english-spinner","tag-european-central-bank","tag-fox-cricket","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-head-stuff","tag-headlines","tag-lifts-lid","tag-mcg-testcricket","tag-monty-panesar","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-nets-session","tag-news","tag-oceania","tag-pat-cummins","tag-selection-dilemmacricket","tag-selection-dilemmas","tag-sheffield-shield-and-big-bash-league","tag-smith-eyesight","tag-stand-in-australian-skipper","tag-steven-smith","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travis-head"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}