Clearly, it was enough to plant a seed of doubt in Smith’s mind: when Alex Carey flashed hard at Gus Atkinson late in the day, his edge flew into the small gap between wicketkeeper and first slip. It was the keeper’s catch, but Smith was unmoved. Instead, Joe Root saw it late, flung himself low to his right, and snatched at the chance. Already dropped first ball, the counter-punching Carey now had another life on 25, and went on to make 63 off 69 balls. Smith is discovering just how lonely, isolating and cruel a job keeping wicket can be on an Ashes tour.
