Jofra Archer and Steve Smith are set to lock horns in the Ashes later this year.
In what could be a prelude to the Ashes that will take place in Australia later this year, Jofra Archer, playing for Southern Brave, dismissed Welsh Fire’s Steve Smith in The Hundred tournament.
In the 25th ball of Welsh Fire’s innings, Smith miscued a shot towards James Vince off Archer’s ball.
James Vince was fielding at mid-on when he took the catch to dismiss Smith. Smith managed to score just 13 runs from seven balls, despite getting off to an aggressive start. He slammed three boundaries before being dismissed.
Australia will look to defend the Ashes urn at home later this year, and the Steve Smith vs Jofra Archer match-up will be one to look forward to. Interestingly, Archer has never dismissed Smith in Tests.
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In fact, the first, and the only time so far, that Archer has dismissed Smith in international cricket was during the third ODI between England and Australia in September 2024.
Coming back to Wednesday’s The Hundred match, Southern Brave defeated Welsh Fire by four runs to clinch their third win of the season. Welsh Fire had won the toss and elected to field first.
The bowlers, led by Matt Henry (2/5) and David Payne (2/25), helped Welsh Fire restrict Southern Brave for 129/8 from 100 balls. Welsh Fire, in their reply, were however restricted to 125/8 from 100 balls. Archer was the pick of the bowlers for Southern Brave, with figures of 3/20 from 20 deliveries.
Archer recently made his return to the England Test side after four years during the five-match series against England. He played the third and fourth Tests against India at Lord’s and Old Trafford respectively. He took nine wickets across the two Tests. While he collected five wickets in the Lord’s Test, he went onto take four wickets in the Old Trafford Test.
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The first Test of the five-match Ashes series will begin from November 21 in Perth. The remaining Tests will be played at The Gabba (December 4-8), Adelaide Oval (December 17-21), the Melbourne Cricket Ground (December 26-30) and the Sydney Cricket Ground (January 4-8).