Aussies catch a glimpse of life beyond Smith

When the dust eventually settles on this helter-skelter Ashes series, and thoughts turn towards Australia's next Test assignment, the scenes from day one at Adelaide Oval might serve as an intriguing preview. 

On a friendly batting surface, in scorching heat, and with the coin finally falling in their favour, Australia were tipped to pile on the pain for England. Even the late withdrawal of Steve Smith, due to an inner-ear issue, did little to dissuade the optimism. 

It largely proved wishful thinking. 

As set (and un-set) batters conspired to find strange dismissals, sage old heads in the broadcast box bemoaned the absence of sensible batting, of building big partnerships, and of settling in for the long haul in order to bat their opponent out of the series.

The central presence of Usman Khawaja (82) across a large chunk of the day seemed to magnify the absence of Smith, as the recalled left-hander capitalised on an early life to otherwise capably fill the role played so often by his fellow veteran.

Indeed it was Khawaja who rode the vacillations best through those first two sessions. Having started out looking particularly scratchy in accumulating five from 28 balls, he switched gears after Harry Brook's dropped catch and plundered 36 from his next 27 before lunch.

His next 41 runs came in fits and starts from 71 balls through the middle session, and it was an innings characterised as much by his punishing of the loose ball as his judicious leaving outside off stump. 

With much excitement around the prospect of 31-year-old lefties Travis Head and Jake Weatherald forming a dashing new opening pair, the spotlight has shifted away from the middle order. 

But the chasm that will be left by Smith revealed itself in Adelaide, when an expected first innings building towards 450-500 was jettisoned for a chaotic 8-326 instead.

On the other side of the Ashes, Australian supporters will wait more than six months for their boys in Baggy Green to play another Test, when they host Bangladesh for two Tests in Darwin and Mackay next winter. 

By then Smith will be 37, and a 39-year-old Khawaja will surely have farewelled international cricket. And with Head's move to opener and the still-to-be-realised potential of Cameron Green occupying a key position, Australia's middle-order situation suddenly seems complex. 

For more than a decade, since the retirement of the great Michael Clarke, Smith has been the team's middle-order rock, piling on 25 hundreds in that time amid more than 7,000 runs (Marnus Labuschagne is next most prolific, with 11 hundreds and 4,514 runs). 

Tellingly, on the 18 occasions Australia scored 500-plus during that decade in matches featuring Smith, he averaged 96.13. As a strike-rate of 53 highlights, his genius has been underpinned by immense powers of concentration. 

Which stands in stark contrast to the standard approach taken by Australia in this series. Maybe Bazball has rubbed off. Maybe it's just the new way of things. Head's incredible hundred in Perth certainly showed the benefits of all-out aggression, impactfully antithetical as it was to the team's catastrophic first-innings showing in the same match. 

For Labuschagne (19) and Green (0), there have been plusses and minuses to this policy. 'Intent' is a buzzword in the Australian setup and the duo has vowed in recent times to show more of it. Yet both will have been frustrated by the shot selection that brought about their dismissals today, as likely they would have been in the second Test in Brisbane. 

Labuschagne today must have felt particularly aggrieved by what looked a lapse in concentration when, from the first ball after lunch, he jabbed tepidly at a nothing ball from Archer, picking out midwicket. 

He had worked hard to restore Australia's innings, and build his own. It followed an errant attempted cut at the Gabba that put paid to what loomed as a century in the offing, when he was 65. It means his wait for a Test hundred will go on to at least 36 innings.  

Green was out in the same over as Labuschagne today, from the second ball he faced, flicking without conviction to the same fielder at midwicket. After his self-described "embarrassing" dismissal in Brisbane, the right-hander has now reached fifty just once in 11 innings since his return from back surgery earlier this year. 

With Josh Inglis also yet to build on his century on Test debut in Sri Lanka back in February, the standout middle-order man has been Alex Carey. Elevated to No.6 with the inclusion of Inglis in the second Test, Carey has capitalised, making scores of 63 and 106. Given his career-best form – the left-hander is now Australia's leading Test run scorer in 2025 – there's an argument to be made for further elevation still. Perhaps he would flourish at No.5. 

With this series only just approaching its halfway point, there is of course for Green and Labuschagne to show that life after Smith is in safe hands. Both batters have looked in great touch at different times; Labuschagne in particular must be heartened by the way he has returned to Test cricket. Both batters have shown they are capable of scoring the big hundreds, though Green has done it only once at this level (174 v NZ, Feb 2024), and Labuschagne has gone three years now without a 120-plus score. 

And Smith's shoes are big ones to fill. Australia's must either prove their more frenetic recent approach is a blueprint for winning series, or one of their batters needs to strike the right balance between patience and intent, and stay the course. 

However it unfolds will make for compelling viewing.

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue