Jamie Smith eager to thrive for England after ‘challenging’ period

Jamie Smith believes a frustrating past few months with England could be the making of him.

A little over a year ago, Smith was averaging close to 60 after his first dozen Tests, while he equalled the record for the fastest wicketkeeper to 1,000 runs in just 21 innings.

But he endured a torturous Ashes, making just one fifty-plus score and his rank dismissal to Australia part-timer Marnus Labuschagne in Sydney attracted scathing criticism from several ex-England players.

Smith’s average now sits just under 40 after 22 Tests, having made three half-centuries in his last 10 matches – although one of those was in his most recent innings against New Zealand at Nottingham.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed cricket news you need, subscribe to The Cricket Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day

FOLLOW OUR LIVE SCORES CENTRE

Experiences

Still only 26, Smith, who missed one of the three Tests in the 2-1 loss by the Kiwis due to paternity leave, hopes his best days are ahead of him and he is in upbeat mood ahead of the Pakistan series.

“I’ve obviously been slightly disappointed with how the last six to nine months have gone, they’ve been challenging, there’s no doubt about that,” he told the Press Association.

“But I think every player experiences that throughout their career and I feel like I will be better for these experiences.

“If I go back to Australia, I’ll be in a better position to know the conditions and know what to expect and improve on that.

“Hopefully against Pakistan, I can play how I played in the last innings at Trent Bridge and have a bit more success there.”

Improved

While his work behind the stumps is often scrutinised amid Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes’ continued omission, Smith thinks he has improved under the tutelage of trailblazing fielding coach Sarah Taylor.

His glovework has been put in the shade by Australia’s Alex Carey and New Zealand’s Tom Blundell recently.

However, Smith says he is putting in the hard yards behind the scenes to sharpen his skills.

“I’m definitely enjoying working with Sarah, she’s a fantastic coach and brings a lot of energy every day,” Smith said.

Moving forward

“We’ve had some good periods already in the short time she’s worked with England.

“I’ve just worked on little bits, it’s had varying degrees of success, it’s more of a project.

“I feel like I’ve been keeping better but then you’re obviously disappointed with a couple of mistakes you made that make it seem like you haven’t been doing the work or the work isn’t working.

“But I felt up until the point where you drop a couple of balls, it was working quite nicely and the stuff we were doing will have benefits moving forward into the future.”

Confidence

England’s Test side begin the post-Bazball era at Headingley against Pakistan, starting on Wednesday.

But Smith, who has spent the past few weeks at the Utilita Bowl with Southern Brave in The Hundred, insisted he will always be grateful for Brendon McCullum’s support in the last couple of years.

“When you’re not keeping for your county, it can bring a fair amount of criticism but he instilled a lot of confidence in me to be one of the best in the world,” Smith added.

“That definitely helped me because keeping was one of the things I was most anxious about, having not done it for a long period of time in the lead-up to games and series.

“He gave me a lot more confidence to go out there and be as good as I can be.”

READ MORE: Joe Root urges England players to ‘be adults’ as captain removes curfew