England star batter Joe Root defended teammate Jamie Smith following the latter's reckless dismissal on Day 2 of the Sydney Test. Australia got Smith's wicket with only a few minutes left to go before Lunch as the visitors went down to 323/6. It was part-timer Marnus Labuschagne who got the big wicket and brought an end to the 94-run stand between Root and Smith.
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The dismissal saw Australia get back into the game and they racked up England's remaining four wickets for just 61 runs. Root proved to be the star performer for the Three Lions and played an incredible knock of 160 runs. Thanks to his superb inning, England managed to reach a great total of 384 before being bowled out.
Root comes out in Smith's defence
Following the conclusion of the day's play, Root went on to defend Smith and remarked that it wasn't the latter's fault for trying to maximise the side's run-rate during the final few minutes of the first session.
"You go into a second new ball and you saw how it reacted. It was completely different. It was about maximising that ten-over period ahead of facing that new ball. You eke out an extra 20 runs and that could be the difference later on," Root said after the end of Day 2.
"There was a method behind what we were trying to do. We're trying to move the game forward all the time. When it doesn't come off, it can look a certain way, but you're never playing to get out, you're playing to score runs.As a batter, your job isn't to survive, it's to score runs. You can't win games just surviving," he added.
Hussain criticises Smith
Earlier, former England captain Nasser Hussain had slammed Smith for getting dismissed to Labuschagne and had also criticsed his shot selection. He further said that the wicketkeeper-batter should have tried to survive on the crease, rather than going for a big shot.
"It was a really poor shot, not just because of the execution and because Labuschagne was bowling, but the timing. That is the problem with this England side. They have a lot of talent, but they don't always lock onto the situation of the game. It was nine minutes until lunch and five overs until the new ball. Just survive and go again," Hussain had said on Sky Sports.