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No description is too hyperbolic. No verdict can possibly be too harsh.

It was the worst and most brainless dismissal of this underwhelming Ashes — and we have seen a few shockers from England — and surely one of the worst in modern Test memory.

There can be no excuses for the shot Jamie Smith played to be dismissed caught by Scott Boland off the ‘bowling’, if we can call it that, of Marnus Labuschagne on the second day of the final Test in Sydney.

It defied all cricketing logic and common sense. It was the shot of a batter whose brain has been scrambled by a chastening series with both bat and gloves, leaving questions over his future at the highest level. It was the latest low point of a miserable Ashes for England.

There seemed to be no reason for Labuschagne to be introduced to the Australian attack in the first place. Not with five other seamers at Steve Smith’s disposal.

Certainly, the great former fast bowler Jason Gillespie could not believe it, chuntering on about Labuschagne’s introduction in the ABC commentary box to go along with his criticism of Australia’s decision to go into this match without a specialist spinner.

England were on 323-5 at the time, with Joe Root imperious and unbeaten on 138, and Smith on 46, having enjoyed several slices of good fortune — notably when he was reprieved after being ‘caught’ by Labuschagne off a Cameron Green no-ball on 22. He flashed at the first ball after his escape and sliced it between Alex Carey and Beau Webster at slip, as if the very concept of learning lessons was anathema.

Jamie Smith returns to the crease after being reprieved after Cameron Green's no-ball

Jamie Smith returns to the crease after being reprieved due to Cameron Green’s no-ball (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)

The visitors were still on for the score of 450-plus that would allow them to dictate terms for the first time in a Test on this tour on an SCG pitch that had quickened up from the first day and will only offer more assistance to the bowlers as this fifth Test goes on.

Australia were only six overs away from being able to take the second new ball and Steve Smith was clearly trying to hurry through to it. The very occasional spin of Travis Head was utilised at one end, and instead of either Green or Beau Webster, Labuschagne came on at the other.

Almost every fielder was placed on the boundary. Labuschagne, who had 12 Test wickets at more than 60 apiece to his name, was asked to bend his back and bowl dibbly-dobbly half-track, 80mph bouncers. There were four overs remaining before lunch.

What could possibly go wrong for England? As it turns out, plenty.

There was no danger for Smith to run towards, so instead, he decided to step towards what should have been the safety of square leg and the impending interval and slap a dreadful delivery to deep extra cover, where Boland took a simple catch. Cue disbelief at Smith’s utter implosion.

“That is one of the dumbest shots you’ll ever see in Test cricket,” said former Australia coach Justin Langer on Channel Seven, while English pundits were just as exasperated.

Stuart Broad labelled it “horrible” on Seven and Jonathan Agnew, not a fan of ‘Bazball’ at the best of times, exclaimed on commentary on the BBC’s Test Match Special: “No, no! You cannot get out to this, surely. One of the worst dismissals I’ve ever seen.”

There have been plenty of candidates for England’s worst dismissal of this Ashes. Take Harry Brook trying to drive Scott Boland on the up at Perth and Mitchell Starc at Brisbane, or Ollie Pope chipping Nathan Lyon to short mid-wicket at Adelaide. There’s Gus Atkinson taking on Brendan Doggett’s short-ball ploy and failing in Brisbane, and Smith hoicking Starc straight to deep mid-wicket in Adelaide attempting a fifth boundary in consecutive deliveries.

But this takes first prize by a distance.

Marnus Labuschagne celebrates as Jamie Smith departs the scene

Marnus Labuschagne cannot believe his luck as Jamie Smith departs (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

It will go down in all-time English ignominy: up there with Mike Gatting’s infamous reverse sweep against Allan Border’s innocuous left-arm spin that cost England the 1987 World Cup, to the worst extravagances of the ‘Bazball’ era.

And anything seen in those days when Kevin Pietersen would get out in more and more unlikely ways while saying “it’s just the way I play”, much to the exasperation of the then batting coach Graham Gooch.

Root gave a diplomatic response when asked on the BBC’s Test Match Special about Smith’s shot at the close of play. “I’d say that, looking at the phase of the game and that surface… you want to maximise that (period) leading into the new ball,” he said. “You saw how differently it reacted when it came.

“So you can sit there and soak up pressure, almost giving them too much respect, or you can try to put a bit of pressure back on them and maximise the opportunity of a 76 or 77-over old ball. A few overs going at eights, nines or 10s per over and life’s a lot easier. But you’re trying to do things for the betterment of the team. That’s how I viewed it out there in the middle.”

But far from reaching the score that would have seen England in control, Smith’s moment of madness exposed the tail.

Will Jacks stayed with Root for a while, but they lost their last four wickets for nine runs to be dismissed for a below-par 384. Australia then put that score into proper context by racing to 166-2 by the close against a woeful diet of short and wide English bowling, the hapless Matthew Potts disappearing for 58 runs in seven overs.

Root’s immense 160, his 17th score of 150 plus in Tests, is in danger of being totally wasted.

It is Smith’s mentality rather than his ability that has been found wanting in this series. Even in this innings, he showed how gifted a player he is, notably when playing the shot of the day to stroke Michael Neser straight for four.

And anyone who watched him make an unbeaten 184 off just 207 balls against India at Edgbaston last summer will have no doubts that Smith does have the potential to become England’s Adam Gilchrist and take any Test away rapidly from the opposition at seven.

But he has given it away far too often in Australia with the bat and has cut a meek and introverted figure behind the stumps, leaving former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior to question his body language on TNT during the second Test in Brisbane. “The keeper has to set the tone in the field,” he said. “He has to be the drummer in the band.”

Jamie Smith gathers the ball behind the stumps during Australia's first innings at the SCG

Jamie Smith gathers the ball behind the stumps during Australia’s first innings at the SCG (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Too often, Smith’s rhythm has been disjointed and jittery.

England left Smith out of their squad for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup last week, and his Test position will be under scrutiny at the end of this match, with Somerset’s Rew brothers, James and Thomas, both viable candidates to replace him.

It is unlikely Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, should they both remain in charge of the Test team, will give up on Smith just yet, but he will be under severe pressure when England begin their three-Test series against New Zealand in June.

If Jamie Smith has shown he has the talent but maybe not the temperament for Test cricket, then Australia opener Jake Weatherald might not have either.

He will be playing for his future if offered another knock in the final Test after a horrible innings of his own.

Weatherald did not give his wicket away with a desperate shot like Smith, but his skittish contribution of 21 in Australia’s reply was desperately unconvincing in its own way. He never suggested permanence at the crease. And, once again, the technical deficiency that threatens to cut short the 31-year-old’s belated introduction at this level was exposed.

The left-hander falls over in his stance towards the offside when trying to work the ball to leg and has become more and more prone to lbw to full deliveries from right-arm bowlers that nip back into him from round the wicket as the series has gone on.

Jake Weatherald over-balances as he tries to work the ball to leg and is trapped in front, leg before wicket

Jake Weatherald over-balances as he tries to work the ball to leg and is given out leg before wicket (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

This time it was Stokes who trapped him in predictable style, even though replays only just upheld umpire Ahsan Raza’s call, with the ball clipping leg-stump. Previously, it had been Jofra Archer, with fast and full deliveries at Perth and Brisbane, and Brydon Carse. He has been snaffled down the leg-side, too, as he tumbles at the crease. All England’s bowlers have sensed vulnerability.

Weatherald could hardly consider himself unlucky on Monday.

Data analysts CricViz point out that after making the step up from Sheffield Shield cricket, four of his eight dismissals in this debut series have come to deliveries fuller than five metres from his stumps.

He had also already been dropped twice before his dismissal on day two, cutting Potts high to Root at slip and then clipping Carse to Ben Duckett at mid-wicket. Weatherald, struggling to deal with the ball jagging back into him as he desperately sought to cut, was also struck on the body twice in successive balls from Carse.

The irony of an Ashes series that Australia have long won and could easily now triumph by 4-1 is that they will end this contest with as many — if not more — question marks hanging over them than England. Weatherald’s position at the top of the order will be prime among them.

Australia are due to play Bangladesh in a two-Test ‘winter’ home series in August in Darwin and Mackay. Unless Weatherald can overcome his obvious deficiency at the SCG, he will not be there with them when this team’s attention returns to red-ball cricket later in the year.