Watch: SCG Explodes In Roar After Steve Smith Picks Jack Leach
Watch: SCG Crowd roared when Steve Smith picked Jack Leach's wicket.
Crowds bring in a lot of energy in the ground. They clap, applaud, cheer for everything that happens in a cricket match and when the game is as close as the one we saw today at the Sydney Cricket Ground(SCG), the crowd is very crucial for the home team.
The game was tight and the lights were dimming over SCG. Umpires told Pat Cummins that only spinners could bowl, no pacers. After a brief discussion, Cummins decided Steve Smith should bowl when England were eight down and only three overs left in the day.
Trending
Smith bowled and Jack Leach kept defending everything that was thrown at him. In the last ball of the over, 2.1 overs left to play, Leach had played 34 deliveries and had scored 26 runs.
Smith bowled the ball that pitched right at the rough spot where the ball spun just the perfect amount. Leach lunged forward to defend, got an edge, the ball even edged wicketkeeper Alex Carey's gloves, and went straight to David Warner at the first slips.
The Australians had the breakthrough and the opening they needed. The whole team picked Smith on the shoulders. The stadium was roaring with loud cheers and noise. An incredible moment and atmosphere made the match that it was.
"Can he just get something to explode out of the footmark? That's what he's trying to do, he's getting it wide outside the off stump, catch a footmark...
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 9, 2022
"About there! ABOUT THERE!" - Ricky Ponting
STEVE SMITH WICKET #Ashes pic.twitter.com/5w5ZjZE58J
Also Read: Ashes 2021-22 - England vs Australia Schedule and Squads
England went on to save the match but the SCG crowd made sure the atmosphere in the final hour of the play won the hearts of test cricket lovers.