Picture Credit: Twitter
The Ashes, the oldest Test series in cricket between Australia and England, dating back to the year 1882, has gotten spiced up recently, all thanks to Steve Smith’s tweet in the aftermath of Jofra Archer getting ruled out of the English summer. The 2023 edition of the Ashes is scheduled to begin on June 16, as the first of five Test matches in the series will be played at the Edgbaston in Birmingham.
On May 16, Code Cricket, an Australian and international cricket news & analysis daily, tweeted out an update regarding Jofra Archer, the English fast bowler, who is ruled out of the Ashes, while claiming that he terrorised the Aussie batters in the same series four years ago. The tweet read, “England paceman @JofraArcher terrorised Australia's batsmen four years ago. But Steve Smith and co can breathe a huge sigh of relief after an update from England's medical staff this evening.”
Upon seeing that tweet, Steve Smith, the premier Australian Test batter for the last decade, gave a brutal retort, which read, “Terrorised? remind me when I was dismissed by him (Jofra Archer).”
It was during the Ashes in the year 2019, where Jofra Archer hit Steve Smith on the helmet on multiple occasions at the Lord’s test, which led to the batter getting concussed and replaced by Marnus Labuschagne, who became the first-ever concussion sub in the format. But amidst all that, Archer was unable to dismiss Smith in the entire test series in England, which was the reason for the aforementioned tweet from the former Australian captain.
Eventually, the Ashes 2019 ended with a 2-2 scoreline as Australia retained the urn against England. Meanwhile, the 2021-22 edition of the Ashes down under, belonged to the Aussies, who demolished the English by a 4-0 margin.