When Jamie Smith came forward to Ravindra Jadeja and blasted England to victory with a four, six, six combination in the first over of the final hour on day five, the drama had mostly subsided, despite the fact that England’s chase of 371 against India had been difficult at moments.
As Smith later explained, that late burst wasn’t spontaneous—it was a calculated decision he made alongside Joe Root during the drinks break. With India already using the new ball and Jasprit Bumrah likely to return, the pair felt it was time to close things out before the hosts had a chance to claw back into the contest.
“The runs at that point were not too many, so I wasn’t expecting him to come on and bowl, but you’re just never quite sure, especially in cricket,” Smith said at a Rothesay media event in London. “You don’t know what will happen. I always back our tail but there could be a couple of decent balls and suddenly you’re eight-down and the pressure’s back on you again. It was nice to just get it done and move on.”
Smith made a mistake early in the game, but his assured finish contrasted with that. He was once more on 40 when he tried an adventurous stroke from Prasidh Krishna in the first innings of England and holed out to deep square leg, exposing the lower order to the second new ball.
The two moments summed up the essence of England’s approach under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum: play bold, trust the process. While some praised the team’s performance as “Bazball with brains,” as Michael Vaughan put it, the core philosophy remains unchanged—intent matters more than the outcome, as long as the decision has sound reasoning behind it.
“It’s great,” Smith said. “Having that belief from other people is something that definitely took my game to the next level. When you’re out there batting, it is you and your partner at the other end, so it’s quite individual, but to have that backing and trust that other people are doing the same thing, you don’t feel you’re alone when you’re doing what you feel is right in that moment.
“When you are caught on the boundary trying to hit the ball for six, you feel you’re not going to get a slap on the wrist. [The attitude is] ‘mate, that was a good option, the wind was howling that way’.
Speaking specifically about that first-innings dismissal, Smith added: “I knew there was a new ball coming and it looks as though I’d exposed Chris Woakes [at No.8] but, at that point, if I’d hit another couple of sixes in that over, you’re taking all the momentum into the new ball. The second new ball can bring wickets but it can increase the scoring rate as well. There’s always a little bit of calculated thinking behind it.”
Stokes echoed the same simplicity in his post-match remarks. Having been under scrutiny for choosing to bowl first, he brushed it off, saying he and McCullum are “a simple-minded pair” and that the mission, at its core, is always to “score more runs than the opposition.”
“It was simple in that you knew you had to chase the runs and we weren’t going to block out for the draw,” he said. “We were always going to be positive and try to get the runs. It was a rapid outfield and as good a batting conditions as you could have on day five. It wasn’t misbehaving too much as the Test went on, so you always felt as though you could keep it simple, you didn’t have to do things too out the box to get the runs which is very helpful.”
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley’s opening partnership of 188 and the unwavering optimism of the rest of the batting lineup, including captain Stokes, who struggled against Jadeja’s left-arm line outside his off stump but rarely stopped going for his strokes in a 51-ball 33, were the main reasons why it appeared that India broke first as the final day went on.
“It’s hard when you’re out there and you’re focused on the job at hand,” Smith said. “You know the importance of that moment, when you have the opportunity to start the series with a win, that your focus is all on that.
“When they’re trying to get 10 wickets and you’re chasing 370, it’s not everyday that gets done. There could have been some head-downs at the end but they kept trying all day. I see a lot of chat about maybe some inexperience on their part but I thought they were fantastic throughout the five days.”
