Steve Smith, who hogged all the limelight in the ongoing Sheffield Shield after scoring his career’s slowest first-class century against Western Australia, has now again grabbed the attention.
But this time in an unlikely scenario, Smith has made the headlines for his doings with the ball in the same match.
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Smith was introduced by New South Wales skipper Peter Nevill to break the frustrating eighth-wicket partnership of Ashton Agar and Inglis.
Coming from round the wicket, Smith bowled a full-length delivery angling towards the off-side. Inglis, on his bid to find a gap at the cover region, went for a drive but the ball hit the silly mid-off fielder on the full. On the rebound, the ball went up and the short leg fielder Nick Larkin completed a bizarre dismissal.
24-year-old Inglis was left utterly disappointed by the manner of his wicket but the NSW players erupted in joy and satisfaction of finally breaking the partnership.
Other than the scalp of Inglis, the number one Test batsman did not take any other wicket in the game.
Earlier, Smith had recorded his slowest ever first-class hundred after taking 290 balls to reach the triple-figure mark. He played an innings of 103 in 295 balls before he was caught behind off Marcus Stoinis’ delivery.
Chasing a target of 352, Western Australia were bundled for a meagre total of 128 by the star-studded New South Wales pace attack. Australia regulars Mitchell Star and Josh Hazlewood wreaked havoc after a brilliant opening spell from Pat Cummins.