Cricket / Steve Smith's wife catches him shadow batting in hotel room at around 1 am, video viral

Cricket Desk: Australia are in total command in the ongoing second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval. Having declared at 473/9 in the Day-Night Tests, the hosts bundled the Three Lions out for 236. Thereby, earning a 237-run lead in the first innings. Although the Aussies had an option of enforcing follow-on, they decided to bat again, giving their bowlers a breather.

At stumps on Day 3, the home team was 45/1, having taken their lead to 290. With Australia’s win looking inevitable at this point, the players must have had a sound sleep. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in skipper in Pat Cummins’ absence. The veteran batter was spotted shadow batting in the middle of the night yet again.

In a video shared by his wife Dani Willis on Instagram, the 32-year-old can be seen checking out his new bat ahead of the Day 4 actions. “@steve_smith49 checking out his new bat,” read the caption. Notably, this wasn’t the first occasion when the story of Smith polishing his batting skills at night has come out. Many of his teammates have previously revealed how big a batting maniac Smith is.

Captain Steve Smith made his bat talk in the Adelaide Test

For the unversed, regular Aussie skipper Pat Cummins was ruled out of the Pink-Ball game as he was found being in close contact with a person who contracted COVID-19 virus. Subsequently, Smith, the designated vice-captain of the team, was asked to lead the side. Notably, this is Smith’s first leadership assignment in national colours after the infamous Cape Town Test in 2018, after which the batter was sacked as skipper.

Owing to the same, many eyes were on his performance and the prolific batter didn’t disappoint. Coming to bat at number four, Smith tackled the England bowlers with precision and played a sublime knock. He even looked all set to register his 28th Test ton. However, he fell to James Anderson while batting at 93. Nevertheless, his efforts took the Aussies to a daunting total and England are unlikely to make a comeback from here on.