In a matter of months, things can upend in a big way. English wicketkeeper Jamie Smith will vouch for it. Late last year, he went unsold in the IPL auction. The Ashes then went horribly wrong for him, both with the bat and gloves. Across five Tests, he got just one fifty, and he dropped Australia’s most dangerous batsman Travis Head, shockingly in one of the games. He wasn’t part of England’s T20 squads for Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
From December to today, Smith’s perception of things has changed though. He has started believing that all that happens, happens for good.
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“At the time, I would have definitely liked to have gone [to the IPL]. It’s an ambition of mine to strengthen all sides of my game, and I see the IPL as something that can really enhance the white-ball side and does have benefits again to the red-ball [game].
“But in hindsight, yeah, it’s fantastic to come here and have a block of red-ball [cricket] behind me. I felt that towards the back end of the summer and into the winter, technically, I felt a little bit out of kilter,” the Surrey man said.
“It’s been nice to come here [The Oval] and work on a couple of things and then I’ll be able to hopefully implement them, for six or seven [County Championship] games, and we’ll see where we get to if there’s any England stuff after that. But, yeah, it’s nice to have a little block to try and get things right,” he added.
Last year India travelled to England for a five-game rubber, and it was a fantastic, very competitive series, ending in a 2-2 draw. Smith believes he hasn’t been bad behind the wicket with gloves so far. However, mistakes will happen now and then, considering the heavy workload that comes along with participating in a long, challenging series.
Long series can be demanding
“Mistakes are going to happen. The India series was physically and mentally very tough. It was my first five-Test series. Also, we were out in the field for 22 out of 25 days or something stupid, and all the Tests lasted [five days]. By the end, it was just actual exhaustion: I was just knackered physically and mentally from all that had gone.
“From there, the learning was, how can you make sure that from the first to the last game, your standards are still as high as possible? It was similar in Australia, to be honest. I know a few of the games didn’t last as long as people were expecting or wanting, but again, I don’t feel like my standards were down too much,” he said.
