World Cup 2023: Steve Smith records an unwanted first against Sri Lanka

Australia posted their first win of the ODI World Cup against Sri Lanka on Monday. The five-wicket victory got Australia off the bottom of the standings after two straight defeats. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, are ninth in the standings with three consecutive losses.

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Batting first, Sri Lanka posted 209 runs despite being in a strong position with one wicket down. Pat Cummins’ breakthrough coupled with Adam Zampa’s four-wicket haul brought Sri Lanka’s downfall.

Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis led the charge in the run chase with fifties to steer Australia towards victory with more than 14 overs to go.

During the innings, Steve Smith suffered a rarity – first World Cup duck. He also became the first Australian cricketer to suffer three ODI ducks in India in a calendar year.

Smith has tallied 65 runs in the World Cup after three matches with scores of 46, 19 and 0.

His concerns in dealing with ball on the pads was also exposed in the process. Once a batter who would walk across the stumps and flick bowlers with ease, Smith is not getting the timing right.

He was dismissed leg before thrice before the Ashes in County cricket and once again during the Test at Edgbaston.

That challenge has continued in the ODI format. Three of his four most recent dismissals have been leg before with pace bowlers proving to be his undoing.

Last week it was Kagiso Rabada of South Africa who accounted for his wicket and on Monday it was Sri Lanka’s Dilshan Madushanka. HawkEye confirmed it was plumb.

“It’s just something I never thought I’d see (from Smith) in the last 12 months or so, getting out LBW,” former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson said in commentary.

“When I had troubles getting out LBW, Steve Smith was someone who I thought, ‘How does he never miss them?’

“It’s happened a bit more for Steve Smith in the last little while. He never used to miss those.”