Smith nearly catches himself out after Wagner's bouncer finds its way to batsman's hands

A picture-perfect bouncer from New Zealand's fiery pacer Neil Wagner rocketed into Steve Smith's hands and rested safely in his gloves before the Australian dropped the ball on Day two of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. In the last ball of the 100th over, Neil Wagner bowled a perfect bouncer to the batting maestro Steve Smith, striking him on his hands as the ball passed his bat and went on to nest itself comfortably in the batsman's gloves. A surprised Steve Smith, who was expecting the delivery to strike his head, ended up almost catching himself out and went on to drop the ball from his gloves milliseconds later. A concerned Wagner immediately enquires if Smith was struck on his head to which the Australian shrugs and says it hit his hands. Steve Smith was eventually removed by Wagner for 85 runs, bringing his knock to a grinding halt. 

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Steve Smith almost catches himself out

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Paine, Head smash fifties

After losing Steve Smith on Day two, Travis Head and Australia's skipper Tim Paine built an innings-reviving partnership, helping Australia go past 400 runs. Both Paine and Head went to score their half-centuries and frustrated the New Zealand bowlers who couldn't find a breakthrough after the wicket of Steve Smith. The duo of Paine and Head also registered their 100-run partnership, as Head slowly inched towards his century. While it was Head's eighth Test fifty for Australia, Paine got to his seventh Test half-century.

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Smith blocks out boos

The booing was no doubt linked to Smith's 12-month ban at the hands of Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering affair in the Cape Town Test against South Africa in March 2018. Smith was Australia's captain at the time. Smith is eligible to regain Australia's captaincy role in March 2020. The 30-year-old showed tremendous resilience during Australia's Ashes tour of England in 2019, scoring 774 runs at an average of 110.57 and jointly winning the player-of-the-series award with England's Ben Stokes, despite constant abuse from English crowds. And now he is hearing boos in his home country.

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