Former England captain Michael Atherton believes Australian vice-captain Steve Smith has overstepped in sprinting off the ground as soon as droplets of rain begin to fall.
By lunch on the second day in Sydney the Test has experienced seven interruptions, with none of the four on Thursday morning extending for more than a few minutes.
Just over an hour into the day’s play, Smith raced for the stands and was called back to cheers from the crowd, but the covers came out just two balls later.
“I’ve not been that impressed with Steve Smith’s attempts to run the game,” Atherton told SEN Test Cricket.
“To dictate to the umpires when they’ll stay on or go off.”
Steve Smith was off to run the first drops of rain even before the umpires actually took any sort of call with the rain, more than anything to protect his bat from getting wet #Ashes pic.twitter.com/Dl5PaYsod1
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) January 5, 2022
Damien Fleming speculated “I think Smithy thinks the rule is you can’t play in any rain".
“He thinks the rule is he runs the game,” Atherton laughed.
What most people don't realise is that Steve Smith, much like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, loses all his superhuman powers when he comes into contact with water. #ashes
— Dan Liebke (@LiebCricket) January 6, 2022
If Stokes isn't fit to bowl then just get him to do this at Steve Smith and get more precious rain delays.https://t.co/Dac1TB8uUg
— Dave Tickner (@tickerscricket) January 6, 2022
Smith is renowned for his fidgeting; for most of his career, the 32-year-old has tapped and bounced away as bowlers approach, and adjusted his pads after every delivery.
Lately the former Test captain has been telling bowlers what the ball did after every delivery, and it has clearly irritated the tourists.
He has notched just 127 runs at 31.75 over the first three Tests of the summer, with a top score of 93 in Adelaide.
A breakthrough hundred may not be far away however, with Fleming marvelling at how Smith reads the game from the centre.
“He just takes in so much information,” the former Test seamer observed.
“He’s umpiring… every time Joe Root makes a change he’s listening in, it’s almost like he’s going to captain for the opposition.”
Smith was dismissed by Stuart Broad for 67 just after lunch on the second day in Sydney, after his partnership with Usman Khawaja had stretched into triple figures.