Ashes 2015: Steve Smith double century at Lord's marks an everyman's triumph of will

It was not only the England players who had some fun at Steve Smith’s expense when he last reached these shores with Australia. “He thinks he’s one of those good-looking roosters in our team,” his captain, Michael Clarke, reflected of him in a diary item early in the 2013 tour, something Smith self-evidently is not. The then 24-year-old’s mannerisms became well known at that time, too. “He has an itch with his left hand,” Clarke remarked, after watching Smith – the man they call “Smudge” – twitch his way around tour games in Worcester and Taunton.