Steve Smith makes startling revelation about nasty Jofra Archer hit ahead of Ashes Test at Lords
Steve Smith makes startling revelation about the terrifying incident last Ashes when he was struck down by a lightning bolt from Jofra Archer: ‘I felt like I had a dozen beers’
- Smith was felled by Archer in 2019
- It revealed the huge impact it had
- Archer won’t be there to hunt him down
Steve Smith returns to Lord’s this Wednesday – four years after being struck down by a Jofra Archer lightning bolt that hit him in the head and left him feeling like he’d had ‘a dozen beers’.
He was at 80 that afternoon after surviving all of Archer’s bombs, and finally turned around when a short-pitch rocket came up and hit him so hard in the back of the head, on the helmet, that he went down.
On the eve of his return to the same dangerous field, Smith revealed the enormous impact of the nasty hit.
Steve Smith has revealed the huge impact his nasty 2019 Jofra Archer hit had on him
Knocked out and concussed, Smith lies prone as first players and then medics rush to his aid after a lightning bolt from Archer
He said it made him feel like he’d had “a dozen beers.”
“It was a very difficult period to get through,” Smith told the Legend of the Ashes podcast.
“I caught one on the arm before, got away with a few pull shots that are top edges and a few in the gaps.
“And then I hit one in the back of the head, which hurt quite a bit. At the time I didn’t realize I had a concussion.
“I went out and took all the tests, and passed all those tests.
‘Not until I came out again. Half an hour later, when the adrenaline was kind of pouring out of my system and I started feeling pretty dizzy, probably like I’d had a dozen beers to be honest.’
Archer, who consistently shot deadly rocks from 154km at the Australian batsman, had the Aussie through all the innings, but Smith continued to fend him off until he failed to do so.
England speed demon Jofra Archer prepares to fire a 154km round at Aussie champion batsman Steve Smith at Lord’s in 2019
Sometime later, at the end of the innings, with his mind clear, the champion batsman found a reason why life at center was both frightening and difficult that afternoon.
“I couldn’t see the ball well on an overcast day at Lord’s.
“It was quite a dark, gloomy day,” he recalled.
“The clouds rolled in and out. Lord’s itself can be a bit difficult as they bowl from the members’ end as the members sit there and the viewing screen isn’t as big as other grounds.
“There were a few distractions there, and it was just one day (when) I didn’t see the ball as well as I would have liked from then on.”
Archer’s lightning bolt strikes Smith on the helmet, sending him into a world of pain and knocking him off his feet in 2019
Fortunately for Smith and Australia, they won’t have to face Archer this year after the pacer was ruled out of the series with injury, which no doubt upset many who enjoy face-to-face fights.
On that afternoon four years ago, Smith bravely battled through the many distractions of sight and various body bumps from the fast bowlers.
He had survived it all before Archer’s short bolt of lightning hit him.
He retired hurt, but came back after the next wicket fell. Presumably now concussed, but made another eight runs and ended that innings with 92.
Smith’s best friend Marnus Labuschagne was brought in to take his spot in the 2nd innings of that Lord’s Test and he left having established himself as a brilliant batsman with a score of 59. Australia saved a dramatic draw in the absence of Steve Smith.
This year he and the vaunted Aussie batting line-up will take a one-nil lead in the second Ashes Test and Smith will be eager to get out in the middle of it.
He scored just 6 and 16 at Edgebaston as the Aussies fought tooth and nail to win virtually on the wire with few overs left and just two wickets in the sheds.