Birmingham, July 5 (IANS) Jamie Smith, who hit a thrilling unbeaten 184 in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test against India at Edgbaston, has revealed that he had to check with his batting partner Harry Brook if he was indeed facing the hat-trick ball from Mohammed Siraj.

Smith’s 184 is also the highest score by an England wicketkeeper in Tests, which came while sharing a massive 303-run sixth-wicket partnership with Brook, who hit 158. “I didn’t really have too much time to think. I think everything happened so quickly, being a hat-trick ball. I actually said to Brooky at the time, ‘Is it a hat-trick ball?’ I didn’t even know he’d got out first ball,” said Smith to Sky Sports’ ahead of day four’s play.

Asked about his approach while hitting a brilliant century, Smith explained, “I knew it was a good wicket having stood behind the stumps for 150 overs and it was about putting India under pressure. In that situation you can prod and poke a bit and get bowled out for 200 but I didn’t think that was the way to go about things.”

“It was about putting my foot down and showing we can push back from any situation. You have those days, very few in a season, where everything seems to hit the middle of the bat. Your inside edges weren’t going on to the stumps, your outside edges went into gaps. You have to ride that and keep things simple.”

Despite counter-attacking efforts from Smith and Brook, India managed to take a 180-run lead, before the visitors’ reached 64/1 in 13 overs and swelled the lead to 244 runs at stumps on day three. “It’s been a strange Test, some big scores and some low scores.”

“The majority of wickets have been taken by the new ball and then the pitch gets nice to bat on. India got a bit away from us last night but we were hunting for wickets – we don’t want to let the game drift,” concluded Smith.

–IANS

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