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Jofra Archer’s reaction after hitting Steve Smith with a bouncer was criticised by former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Sunday. Steve Smith was struck by a short ball from Jofra Archer, timed at 92.4 mph (148.7 kph), on an unprotected part of his neck on day four of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. The right-hander fell on the ground and retired hurt after receiving on-field treatment. Shoaib Akhtar, who once bowled the fastest delivery at 161.3kph, said took to twitter to slam the Barbados-born England fast bowler, who did not check up on Steve Smith and was seen smiling moments later.
“Bouncers are a part & parcel of the game but whenever a bowler hits a batsman on the head and he falls, courtesy requires that the bowler must go & check on him. It was not nice of Archer to just walk away while Smith was in pain. I was always the first one to run to the batsman,” Akhtar said in a tweet.
After 46 minutes, Smith came back to the ground to resume his innings.
He was trapped LBW by Chris Woakes for 92 runs off 161 balls. Australia managed to score 250 in reply to England’s first innings total of 258.
On the final day of the second Ashes Test, Smith was ruled out of game with concussion.
Earlier, Smith made successful comeback to the Test cricket after serving one-year ban for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa last year.
The former captain scored centuries in successive innings of the first Ashes Test to guide Australia to a 251-run victory against England in Birmingham.