Pumped-up Australia captain Steve Smith and England fast bowler Jofra Archer had a fiery verbal clash near the climax of the second Ashes Test on Sunday at the Gabba. Smith hit the winning runs including pulling Gus Atkinson for a huge six over square leg to finish the job in style. His verbal joust with express paceman Archer shortly before that made for captivating viewing. “Bowl fast when there’s nothing going on, champion,” stump mics captured Smith telling Archer. Smith laughed off the exchange later. “It stays on the field,” the ABC quoted Smith as saying. “It was good banter. He’s a good competitor and he comes hard at you, so it was good fun.” 

Despite another one-sided victory to go with the opening Test in Perth, Smith remains wary of Ben Stokes’s wounded men. “They’re obviously a really good side and they’ve played great cricket for a couple of years now,” he said. “They’re going to come back hard — whether they come back and play really aggressive or take the foot off the pedal a little bit and try and prolong the game a bit, we’ll wait and see. But they’ve got some really good players in their team and they’re going to come back hard at us.”