In Jamie Smith, England have unearthed another Bazballer

To be in this England side, you have to be brave and confident. 

It is not everyone’s cup of tea. It was certainly not Ben Foakes’ cup of tea, as he was dropped for the three-match Test series against West Indies. But for Surrey’s Jamie Smith, it was right in his alley. 

Smith wasn’t Surrey’s first-choice wicketkeeper, thanks to the ever-presence of Foakes. But whenever an opportunity presented itself, he was there, ready to pick the mitts. Ready to go to places that other wicketkeepers were scared to in the country. 

"It's been pretty clear messaging that if you want to play for England you have to be fearless and know when to take the game on and try and put people under pressure," Smith told BBC before the West Indies series. 

The Three Lions have tracked the Surrey wicketkeeper from 2019 when he first represented the Brown Caps (Surrey) in a fixture that featured international stars like Stuart Broad, Dom Bess, and Sam Cook. He was 18 then. 

Anyone could have been overwhelmed with this kind of bowling unit but not Smith. Certainly not on his debut. There, the right-hander came out attacking, putting on a partnership with Ollie Pope, scoring a 192-ball 127 with 16 fours and two sixes. 

Ever since then, Smith has been a name that has been on the lips of several followers of English cricket. So much so that even BBC's Daniel Norcross hailed him as a ‘generational talent’. While his first two years weren’t perfect, he made up for that in his 656-run season in 2021.

But it was only when Bazball took over England and changed their methodology that Smith elevated himself onto the path of getting noticed. The right-hander smashed 938 runs in the first first-class season that kicked off after the Bazball era, with his strike rate jumping from 49.5 to 72.8. 

While it is an art that was tough for others to cultivate, it was something that came naturally to Smith, who scored a 71-ball century for the England Lions side in Galle against Sri Lanka ‘A’. It was him directly accepting the growing demands of the new English culture to be ‘aggressive and bold’. 

That was exactly the demands of England’s managing director, Rob Key.

In his own words, England were on the lookout for “someone who can just up the ante at times when required. We feel that he can soak up pressure, and when he's batting with a batsman at the other end, he's [Smith] more than capable.”

"It's not just about having one or the other. We want someone who can have both those forms of batting, and we feel that Jamie Smith can do that," Key added.

That’s exactly what took him to London, at the iconic Lord’s. While there’s always a palpable nervous energy that surrounds a debutant, Smith was far more calm and assured. It was like he knew what exactly was going to happen. 

It was evident in how he answered questions in the pre-match chat with BBC, saying, “I’m not a person who is expecting things; I’m just grateful to be enjoying cricket, and this environment on how they go about things will only help me enhance and improve.”

His first scoring shot was fittingly a boundary. That was, after all, a man who was coming on the back of a 669-run season for Surrey. He knew a way or two to find those boundaries. But what cut him apart from the rest of the other modern-day wicketkeepers to have represented England was his ability to counter-punch. 

England wicketkeepers have often been found in a place where they have slumped themselves while batting alongside the bowlers. When Gudakesh Motie dismissed Joe Root, it felt like history could repeat itself. 

But it wasn’t the case for Smith, who stitched up multiple partnerships, first with Chris Woakes before finding himself at the other end alongside Shoaib Bashir. When Woakes walked out to bat, Smith was on 15 off 38 deliveries. But during that partnership, he increased the scoring rate steadily, putting on 27 runs in 51 deliveries. 

When Woakes walked back to the hut, he was still on 42 off 89. From thereon, however, he understood the assignment to perfection, stitching up a 25-run partnership with Bashir, out of which he scored 21. 

He didn’t just farm strike, he did it while attacking the West Indian bowlers with some powerful and brutal strokes, including one that sailed past the Lord’s stadium. Smith continued his onslaught with another six and four before eventually holing it out to Kirk McKenzie in the deep. 

It wasn’t the 70 that would have made the selectors proud, it was the fact that Smith stitched up crucial partnerships with the bowlers while still keeping the ethos of Bazball cricket true to itself.

For England, then, Smith might finally be that one — not just for the future but also the present.

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