It is almost a year to the day that Jamie Smith made his Test debut. At the time some wondered why, when there were so many established options to choose from like the combative Jonny Bairstow and the smooth-as-silk Ben Foakes. England were certain of their man, though, throwing him into the cauldron at Lord’s against West Indies, and since then he has showed exactly why they were keen to do so.
What England’s selectors saw was a competent wicketkeeper — even though he took the gloves rarely for his county in first-class cricket — but also a batsman who could change a game in an instant, Adam Gilchrist-style, in a counterattacking way. That is exactly how he played here, flirting with the record for England’s fastest hundred, and taking the highest score by an England wicketkeeper from Alec Stewart, his boss in county cricket, who was at Edgbaston to see the baton passed on.
Alongside him for much of the day, in a record sixth-wicket partnership against India of 303, was Harry Brook, who played marvellously for his ninth Test hundred. After starting frenetically the evening before and being lucky to survive a number of miscalculations, Brook settled down to play maturely, happy to sail along in Smith’s slipstream. By any standards, his 137-ball hundred was a rapid affair, but it was a measure of Smith’s destructiveness that Brook was put completely in the shade.
Smith needed just 80 balls to complete his century, the joint-third fastest in England history
NIGEL PARKER/SHUTTERSTOCK
It was a brilliant performance from a pair of young cricketers who will be central to England’s fortunes in all formats in years to come, albeit on a bizarre topsy-turvy day. Things began badly when the old guard of Joe Root and Ben Stokes fell in the second over of the morning to consecutive balls, before Smith and Brook shared their mammoth partnership, rattling along at more than five an over, to the point where it looked like they might get within touching distance of India’s first-innings score.
Then India’s opening bowlers, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, who shared all ten wickets between them, induced a dramatic collapse of five wickets for 20 runs in 43 balls, with the second new ball. It meant an England scorecard that included six ducks and two mighty hundreds, leading to a first-innings deficit of 180. It felt as inexplicable as some of the costumes in a Hollies Stand that became increasingly raucous throughout the day.
India stretched their lead by a further 64 for the loss of Yashasvi Jaiswal before the close. Where does that leave the game? There are two days remaining; the pitch remains true, showing no signs of deterioration and, on that basis, who knows how long Shubman Gill will want to bat for on Saturday or how many he will feel confident enough of defending on the final day, after what happened at Headingley last week and on this ground two years ago?
Stokes was dismissed first ball, feathering a catch behind, as England lost two wickets in as many balls
MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES
It is a measure of the psychological impact England’s batting can have on the opposition that even though India should be able to control the game from here, they still face some tricky calculations. Gill needs to win to level the series but cannot afford to lose. He needs time on this pitch to take ten wickets, but will not want to offer England a sniff. Welcome to captaincy, Shubman.
The context to the partnership between Brook and Smith, without which England would already be sunk, made what followed even more astonishing. Smith, after all, came in on a hat-trick after Root had tickled one down the leg side and Stokes had been surprised by Siraj’s pace and bounce first ball, feathering a catch behind. At 84 for five, trailing by 503 runs, England were in a deep, deep hole of their own making, having put India in and then having batted recklessly on the second evening.
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But Smith did not worry about any of that. He climbed into his first ball, driving it sweetly down the ground, and proceeded to set about India’s bowlers with relish, driving powerfully and pulling anything remotely short with venom. He took 23 runs from one over off Prasidh Krishna in the morning, who had been unwisely instructed to test out the middle of the pitch, during which Stokes could be seen applauding animatedly from the England dressing room, egging on his young ’keeper to inflict further damage.
In a morning session that delivered an astonishing 172 runs in just 27 overs, Smith dominated, bringing up his half-century in 43 balls and at one stage, as lunch approached, Gilbert Jessop’s ancient record for England’s fastest hundred was in real danger. He didn’t quite achieve that, but when he swept Ravindra Jadeja for his 14th boundary in the last over before lunch, he had breezed to a hundred in a session in only 80 balls, the joint-third-fastest for England.
In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav and with boundaries brought in to minimum standards, Gill had little way of stemming the flow of runs. Opportunities were thin on the ground: had India’s captain posted a second slip, Brook’s innings might have been stopped at 42; had he clung on to an edge off Jadeja at slip — the edge burst through his hands and hit Gill on the head instead — Brook might have been dismissed for 63. Smith, though, did not give a chance.
England’s fastest hundredsGilbert Jessop 76 balls (v Australia, 1902, The Oval)Jonny Bairstow 77 balls (v New Zealand, 2022, Trent Bridge)Jamie Smith 80 balls (v India, 2025, Edgbaston)Harry Brook 80 balls (v Pakistan, 2022, Rawalpindi)Ben Stokes 85 balls (v New Zealand, 2015, Lord’s)
Like many captains before him in the face of England’s aggressive batting, Gill had looked a little frazzled in the morning, but after the break a measure of control arose from a strategy of bowling wide outside the off stump to a packed off-side field. Sri Lanka had tried that with some success against Brook last summer, when the young batsman let his frustrations be known, but there were no such signs of immaturity now. Off 28 overs in the afternoon, England accumulated 106 runs more.
Siraj took six wickets as he mopped up the England tail at Edgbaston
ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGES
As the second new ball approached, Brook suffered from cramp to forearm and calf and was forced to take treatment. Smith’s 150 arrived in 144 balls, England’s joint fifth fastest, and Brook joined him after tea, astonishingly his fifth score of 150 in only his 27th Test. Remarkable. In the 73rd over, Jadeja finally spun one sharply past the edge of Brook’s bat, but this was a first and the second new ball was the key.
When it was taken, Brook got a good one from Deep, a sharp break-back that rattled his off stump. England now declined swiftly, much as India had done twice at Headingley, with Siraj, always game, playing the Tongue role and mopping up the tail. Smith passed Stewart’s record high score of 173 for an England ’keeper, and threatened more damage as the tail gave him added license.
To limit that, Siraj pinned Brydon Carse and Tongue leg-before, and bowled Shoaib Bashir, after sending a fierce bouncer into the off spinner’s helmet. Siraj walked off with six wickets, a triumph of spirit and perseverance on this featherbed, and Smith was left stranded on 184, having played an innings that no one who was at Edgbaston will forget in a hurry.