Steve Smith shares a laugh with a very special visitor at Lord’s ahead of second Ashes Test

Australian star batsman Steve Smith had a special visit to Lord’s as he prepared for the second Ashes Test: his father Peter.

The father and son were seen laughing together at the home of cricket on Tuesday, as Smith deals with the pressure of knowing his wicket will be much appreciated by England.

It comes as the hosts are wary of a resurgence of Marnus Labuschagne and Smith at Lord’s, while the team are unconvinced paceman Stuart Broad has their mate.

Labuschagne and Smith’s failures at Edgbaston marked the first time both had been sacked for less than 20 times in the same match.

The father and son were seen laughing together, with Smith being the main wicket England will crave if they want to level the Ashes series

The low scores saw both drop in the ICC’s official rankings, with Labuschagne losing first place to Joe Root and being relegated to third, while Smith is now at his lowest since 2014 at sixth.

There have also been suggestions that Broad has gotten into Labuschagne’s head, after putting him behind twice with cunning outswingers in the series opener.

Labuschagne made it a point to downplay those suggestions this week, while also changing his technique to get rid of the shuffle over the fold he used at Edgbaston.

It comes after Broad publicly trumpeted his new outswinger leading up to the series, making it no secret that he developed it with Smith and Labuschagne in mind.

But for all of Broad’s success and England’s vocal nature over the past week, captain Ben Stokes isn’t ready to declare his assault-weapon sailor has taken a psychological blow.

Cricket is a fickle game at times. He was the number 1 hitter in the world, then Broady knocked him out twice,” said Stokes.

“Players like that don’t miss that often.

“Broady produced two incredible deliveries and it’s always great to see the backs of Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith early on, but quality players always find a way to bounce back.

Marnus Labuschagne was sacked twice by Stuart Broad at Edgbaston – and the batsman will also try to harass the goalscorers at Lord’s

“We won’t read too much into it, but it’s nice to know there might be something for Marnus in it.”

Australia are also counting on the pair returning to their normal runs-scoring performance.

The duo went through every day in the run-up to Wednesday’s test and even returned to the nets on Saturday along with reserve members of the team.

Smith made his Lord’s debut in 2010 and averaged 54.42 on the famed pitch, while also being the scene of Labuschagne’s return to the XI as a substitute for a concussion in 2019.

“History would suggest that Marnus and Smithy rarely miss out,” said Captain Pat Cummins.

“I expect a tough week from them. The same goes for the other guys who may not have had their best week.

“I don’t think we played nearly a complete game last week.

‘That’s one of the nicest things: we weren’t at our best, but we still managed to cross the line.’