Shoaib Akhtar slams Archer for not checking up on Smith

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar on Sunday slammed Jofra Archer for not showing the basic courtesy of checking on Steve Smith after the Australian batsman was felled on the ground by a nasty bouncer from the England fast bowler during the second Ashes Test.

During his fiery spell on the fourth day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Saturday, Archer struck Smith twice—first on his forearm and then on the unprotected back of his neck by a bouncer clocking 92.4 miles per hour.

“Bouncers are a part & parcel of the game but whenever a bowler hits a batsman on the head and he falls, courtesy requires that the bowler must go & check on him. It was not nice of Archer to just walk away while Smith was in pain. I was always the first one to run to the batsman,” Akhtar tweeted on Sunday.

The body blow forced Smith to retire hurt while batting at 80. After a concussion test, Smith, however, returned in less than an hour to take the crease even as a section of English crowd booed the batsman.

The former skipper was eventually dismissed when he shouldered arms to a straight ball from Chris Woakes, just eight runs short of a century.