Ashes 2025-26: Jimmy Smith’s dismissal in dismal fashion for England against Australia in the fifth Test

On the 22nd, Smith was caught in cover, only for replays to show Green had gone over. Next ball, Smith cut between wicket-keeper Alex Carey and Beau Webster at first slip.

Smith also birdied the green over the slips when he had 30, and on 34, he missed a pullup that just got away from the halfway point.

This latest horror show in Sydney comes at the end of an incredibly disappointing Ashes for Smith, continuing a run of poor form that began in the home summer.

After Smith made a stunning 184 in the second Test against India at Edgbaston in July, his batting average stood at nearly 59. After eight games, he was down to 42.

He has only been over 50 once in Australia. In the first Test he did not adapt to the big boundaries in Perth and bounced.

In the second Test in Brisbane, his first pink-ball match, he missed two crucial chances behind the stumps. The 25-year-old’s 60 in the second innings of the third Test in Adelaide was his highest score of the series, yet he was bowled out by Mitchell Starc just as he was giving England hope in an improbable chase.

Ahead of the fifth Test in Sydney he was left out of England’s white-ball squads for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup that followed.

Smith still has the second-highest batting average for a gloveman who has held at least 20 Tests for England, but his collapse in form could leave doubt about his place in the home summer.

“Jimmy Smith is nowhere near the rhythm he should be,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said.

“The England team has to start learning and accepting. I read something saying that Jimmy Smith might get credit for trying to keep the game going.

“That’s the culture that’s being created in this England team and that’s why they failed on this tour. There are times to progress but when it’s so close to lunch and Marnus Labuschagne is bowling as a bouncer. I can’t accept that. It sums up this England side.”