AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA TESTS Border laments Smith 'brain explosion'

Former skipper shocked by second-over stumping after current captain charged at first ball from the slow bowlers

  

Steve Smith's dismissal in the first Test left former captain Allan Border less than impressed with the current skipper’s approach on the second morning against Sri Lanka.

Having resumed at 2-66 at the Pallekele Stadium, Smith took two off the first over from seamer Nuwan Pradeep before facing up to his first ball from veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath with Australia still 48 runs in arrears.

A noted player of spin, Smith opted to charge down the wicket at Herath, but his powerful swing connected with nothing but air, leaving the skipper looking ungainly as Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal completed the easiest of stumpings.

As Smith slammed his bat into the turf in self-admonishment as he started the long walk back to the dressing room, Border took up the refrain for the host broadcaster, Ten Sports.

"Well this is a brain explosion from Steven Smith," Border said. "He has been using his feet very well but most of the time he's been very structured in the way's he played.

"But that's just a wild hack at the ball.

"That's a No.11's slog from a world-class player like Steven Smith."

Famous for his gritty determination and digging in to steer his side out of trouble on numerous occasions during a turbulent period for Australian cricket, Border was seemingly non-plussed.

The man who replaced Smith at the crease, Western Australian veteran Adam Voges, narrowly survived his first ball from Herath, an lbw shout that while clipping the leg stump, was an umpire's call of the marginal kind that would be unaffected by theimpending October changes to the DRS system.