The England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has admitted that his first experience of Test cricket left him mentally drained. But now he is rested and recuperated, Smith is desperate for a bigger slice of the action, whether moving up to No 6 in the Test team to cover Ben Stokes’s absence, or bedding into a new-look white-ball setup.
Smith was a controversial selection as Test wicketkeeper-batsman earlier this summer, because he does not do the job for his county, where Ben Foakes takes the gloves. But Smith had a terrific series against West Indies, making 207 runs in four innings, including planting balls on the roof of the Tavern Stand at Lord’s and the Hollies at Edgbaston. Behind the stumps, there were no missed chances.
The 24-year-old admits he has been surprised by how much the experience he took out of him. Rather than rushing straight back to play for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, he took an extra week off, in part to spend time with his partner, who is expecting their first child in December. Smith says he and England are yet to discuss what the birth might mean, but it could see him miss part of the Test tour of New Zealand.
‘Test cricket is more intense’
“It’s been a different experience missing the first three games because of the Test stuff and then I did ask Birmingham for a one extra game off, which thankfully, they were very accommodating in allowing me to have that,” he said.
“Mentally and physically, it was quite a lot in three weeks, going from county cricket into that. And with the potential for more stuff to come, it was nice to have just an extra week of a breather basically.
“Test cricket’s definitely more intense. The games didn’t go five days, so it was very short compared to what people were expecting and what I was expecting, but for me it was just mentally quite draining. It probably took more out of me than I was expecting, with all the emotions that came with it, and the expectation and a bit of added pressure.
“It just was nice to have a little bit more of reflection time rather than just roll onto the next event and then the next one and suddenly you don’t really have a chance to look back and reflect on what you did well and what I’ll be looking to improve for the next series and beyond hopefully.”
‘Batting at No 6 doesn’t bother me’
Smith looks set to become a central figure across formats in the coming months. With Stokes out injured, he could be promoted to No 6 against Sri Lanka next week.
“It won’t bother me at all,” he said. “One of the things that’s been great in my career so far is I feel like I’ve batted in a variety of different positions and roles anyway, and I’ve gained some of these experiences.
“They might be a lesser level in the County Championship, but I still feel like I’ve been able to adapt and have some experience under my belt and the difference between seven and six isn’t massive anyway.”
In this season’s Vitality Blast, no other batsman scored even 150 runs at a strike-rate of 200. Smith made 285 at a strike-rate of 205, meaning he is almost certain to be involved with England’s white-ball squad against Australia next month. He has two ODI caps, but is yet to play a T20 international. The trouble will be managing his workload in a crammed schedule.
“There haven’t been any conversations about September yet,” he says. “It’s something that I’m really looking forward to hopefully being a part of. It’d be really nice to be a three-format player for England.
“It’s my aspiration to play all formats. I think I can be successful in all formats for England and it is something I’ll definitely be looking to do, but you are always looking further down the line on potential workloads and jumping around series to series is not sustainable for anyone really. With it being so crammed at the moment, it will be interesting to see how it is worked around and it is interesting to see how things go over the next couple of months.”
Smith is one of very few cricketers to be captained by Ollie Pope, who will lead the team in Stokes’s absence. In September 2021, Pope captained Surrey for the only time in Championship match. Smith, opening the batting, made 138, while Pope made 274.
“He’ll be great,” said Smith. “I think what he will bring is pretty similar to what Ben Stokes brings. He is someone who is a very independent thinker, he is always thinking on his feet and will not let the game drift. He is always looking to be proactive, which is a great skill to have and especially in Test cricket you don’t want to be stagnant for too long.”
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