Steve Smith, at the moment, is about as close as you may ever see to the late, great Don Bradman.

With the fourth test ending in an Ozzie victory, the men from Down Under have now ensured that they will return home with the Ashes urn in their luggage, and there’s no underplaying just how big a role Smith has played in that success.

Despite having missed the third test, Smith has 671 runs in five innings, with three tons and two fifties, for an average of just over 134.

Given that he has endured a torrid 18 months, you can understand why he was in such fine spirits following Sunday’s win. Some of the reports of the Ozzie team’s celebrations, and Smith’s in particular, have caused a bit of a stir.

You may recall that the bespectacled Jack Leach, Ben Stokes’ batting partner during that historic run chase in the third test, wears glasses, and didn’t hold back when celebrating that win.

Then, in the days that followed, Jonny Bairstow and other members of the team described what went on behind closed doors.

The Smith drama has much to do with the photo you can see above, with him wearing glasses and celebrating alongside Nathan Lyon.

Over to Stuff:

The Australian cricket team have been labelled ‘classless’ by the British media for the way they have celebrated retaining the Ashes.

The reason for the fury is photos of Steve Smith celebrating on the pitch two hours after the series was won in Manchester, wearing glasses to mock England’s Jack Leach.

The Australian players were still in their whites and drinking beer when they returned to the field after night had set in at Old Trafford.

Nathan Lyon gave a speech to his team mates, where he delivered a foul-mouthed rant about the media, which was followed by the team gathering in a circle.

Smith moved to the centre of the circle, wiped a pair of glasses similar in style to those worn by Jack Leach and put them on. He then pretended to bat left handed, which is how Leach bats.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with some jubilant celebrations, and wearing your whites and the Baggy Green are part and parcel of what makes playing cricket for Australia so special.

If you believe what is reported by the Sun (I have my doubts), these celebrations veered into the nasty, though:

The Sun reported that the Australian players were heard during their celebrations shouting ‘no ball’ and ‘come back Smithy’, referring to when Leach appeared to have taken the wicket of Smith in the first innings in Manchester, only for Smith to be called back because Leach had overstepped the mark with a delivery and bowled a no ball.

The Australian players also chanted: “Who did we beat? England… How did we do it? Easy.”

I haven’t seen any videos of the incident, but there is this, showing Nine News reporter Tony Jones being mobbed by some of the players:

Again, I get that this team has overcome plenty since their ill-fated tour of South Africa, but is this really a good look?

Perhaps the problem is that journalists shouldn’t be privy to these kinds of celebrations, which are best left to the team to do away from prying eyes, or out in the middle without any press present.

Here are the Ozzies belting out the team song, before we move on:

ICYMI: The Aussies belt out the team song after retaining the urn!

Next stop: The Oval #Ashes pic.twitter.com/n87QlmgDuu

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 9, 2019

In the wake of the controversy, the man who took the picture of Smith with those glasses on, Getty chief photographer Ryan Pierse, tried to clear a few things up.

Pierse is himself an Ozzie, born and raised in Sydney:

Here’s Chris Rogers with his glasses on:

Yup, I see the resemblance.

Still, even with Pierse making that statement, many aren’t buying it, and Smith can expect to cop some grief in the fifth test. Not that any abuse will worry him, because he’s been subjected to constant jeering throughout the series, and seems to revel in it.

The same cannot be said for David Warner, who has three successive ducks, including a pair in the fourth test, for a total of 79 runs in the series, 62 of which came in a single knock.

You won’t hear me praise Warner often (ever), but this clip from the fourth test shows that he’s at least taking the abuse with a smile on his face:

Fan: “Warner you f*cking cheat!”

David Warner: …

via @AdamGMillington pic.twitter.com/GikdhZym8U

— Cricket Shouts (@crickshouts) September 6, 2019

Still a knob, though.

Now we can only hope that the English win the fifth test to take some of the shine off the Ozzie’s performances thus far, although I’d be pretty happy for their batting woes to continue right through to their visit to our shores at the end of the year.

[sources:stuff&telegraph]