Jamie Smith: IPL omission can be blessing in disguise

Keeper-batter rues shortcomings in Australia but hopes to take lessons into new season

Matt Roller

Published: Mar 18, 2026, 8:24 AM (6 hrs ago)

Jamie Smith believes that going unsold in December's IPL auction could prove to be a blessing in disguise as he looks to address some technical deficiencies ahead of England's Test summer.

Smith struggled during England's 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia, making 211 runs and a single half-century across the five Tests. He also dropped a straightforward chance off Travis Head as England slid to a heavy defeat at the Gabba, and played arguably the worst of many bad shots by England batters when he slapped a Marnus Labuschagne bouncer to deep extra cover in Sydney.

He nominated himself for December's IPL auction but went unsold, and was subsequently dropped from England's white-ball squads for their tour to Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup. But Smith said that has started to view his unexpectedly long break as an opportunity to work on his red-ball batting ahead of England's Test series against New Zealand in June.

"At the time, I would have definitely liked to have gone [to the IPL]," Smith said at Surrey's pre-season media day on Tuesday. "It's an ambition of mine to strengthen all sides of my game, and I see the IPL as something that can really enhance the white-ball side and does have benefits again to the red-ball [game].

"But in hindsight, yeah, it's fantastic to come here and have a block of red-ball [cricket] behind me. I felt that towards the back end of the summer and into the winter, technically, I felt a little bit out of kilter.

"It's been nice to come here [The Oval] and work on a couple of things and then I'll be able to hopefully implement them, for six or seven [County Championship] games, and we'll see where we get to if there's any England stuff after that. But, yeah, it's nice to have a little block to try and get things right."

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Smith could yet face pressure for his Test spot after his quiet tour of Australia. Jordan Cox, his nearest challenger, is likely to start the IPL running drinks for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but James Rew is another compelling alternative who impressed for England Lions this winter and will come into contention if he starts the season strongly for Somerset.

Conversely, it was only last summer that Smith proved his quality at international level with a brilliant counter-attacking 184 not out against India at Edgbaston. He still averages 41.48 in Test cricket despite his lean returns in Australia, and his wicketkeeping has been largely tidy despite his relatively limited experience with the gloves.

Ben Foakes will again start the Championship season as Surrey's first-choice keeper, leaving Smith to rely on drill work in training as he builds up to the international season (Alec Stewart's return to a full-time role should prove beneficial for him). He defended his keeping on Tuesday, saying: "Mistakes are going to happen."

Smith said: "The India series was physically and mentally very tough. It was my first five-Test series. Also, we were out in the field for 22 out of 25 days or something stupid, and all the Tests lasted [five days]. By the end, it was just actual exhaustion: I was just knackered physically and mentally from all that had gone.

"From there, the learning was, how can you make sure that from the first to the last game, your standards are still as high as possible? It was similar in Australia, to be honest. I know a few of the games didn't last as long as people were expecting or wanting, but again, I don't feel like my standards were down too much."

Smith has been back at Surrey for several weeks since the Ashes and said that he had reflected on the tour as a "learning experience". He suggested that Australia had not been given sufficient credit for how well they played throughout the series but conceded that he "didn't play as well as I wanted to" across the five Tests.

"It was tough," he said. "You go to a tour like that with high expectations of trying to do as well as you can, and it didn't pan out that way. Obviously I would have loved to have put some more returns there across five games for us to win a few more games, but the reality is that didn't happen, and I didn't play as well as I wanted to or was required for the team.

"It's obviously disappointing, but you can take that as a learning experience. You are playing against a world-class as well, and I think sometimes that gets lost a little bit, how good the opposition is. It's learning, but I'm coming into [the season] fresh and I love being back at Surrey and playing here."

Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

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