The battle between Jofra Archer and Steve Smith continues at the Gabba, but the England fast bowler has taken 0-96 from 189 balls on Australian soil.
Steve Smith is on the verge of humiliating England firebrand Jofra Archer statistically in the second Test at the Gabba.
Smith has put many good bowlers to shame during his remarkable career for Australia, but Archer is closing in on an unwanted record against the 36-year-old batsman.
According to Opta data, 26 more wicket-less balls will see the Englishman become the bowler who has bowled Smith the most in Test cricket without taking his wicket.
The current “record” is held by retired South African all-rounder Vernon Philander, who bowled 214 balls to Smith without taking his wicket in a five-day game.
Since their first meeting in a spectacular encounter at Lord’s in 2019, Archer has bowled 189 balls to Smith and has figures of 0-96.
The battle between these two in the Test starting on Thursday could decide the fate of the Ashes as England aim to bounce back from the defeat in Perth.
Archer has dismissed Smith only once in ODI cricket – after scoring 60 in the UK last year – but outside of that only the Lord’s knockout can be pointed to as a “win” as the Australian was ruled out with injury in the last half of that Test. He subsequently missed the next Test at Headingley.
The foundations of that rivalry are explored by Cricket.com.au in the latest Stories After Stumps podcast episode, titled “The best since Bradman: The return of Steven Smith”.
In the documentary-style podcast, Smith talks in detail about his return to the game after the Cape Town controversy and his return to Test cricket in the 2019 Ashes, when his batting average rose above 65 and he scored 774 runs, including three centuries.
Pat Cummins said of Smith in a podcast, “It felt like the stuff people talk about about Bradman was a bit old-fashioned.”
“Every time we batted, it was like, ‘Well, how many runs is he going to score between 100 and 200 in this innings, or is he going to keep batting for a long time?’
“They threw everything at him. You saw the bowlers lose their minds. It was unbelievable.”
The episode also explores the Smith-Archer conflict in detail, and looks at how it flared up in the days following the Lord’s face-off, with England villain Stuart Broad suggesting in a press conference that Archer would demand the ball as soon as Smith came into the middle.
Smith later replied candidly: “I’m not really going to change anything – there’s talk that he’s taken control of me, but in reality he hasn’t taken me out.”
A few days later, Smith took to Old Trafford and scored 211 and 82 as Australia retained the Ashes in the UK for the first time since 2001.
More than six years later, Archer is still waiting to find her man.
2025–26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: 4-8 December, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: 17-21 December: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia team (second Test only): Steve Smith (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendon Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England team: Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethel, Brydon Carse, Jack Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tong, Mark Wood
