Special analysis: What comes next for Jamie Smith?

Like a cricketing version of Icarus, who in legend flew too close to the sun, the hugely-gifted 25-year-old got badly burned in this winter’s Ashes series.

Castigated for his horror dismissal in the final Test at Sydney, when in ugly fashion he carved Marnus Labuschagne’s deliberately tempting attempted bouncer to deep cover, Smith also faced criticism both for his wicketkeeping and a number of other soft dismissals as England were humiliated 4-1 by Australia.

In ten Ashes innings, one of them not out, he managed a disappointing 211 runs at an average of 23.44 and passed fifty just once. His top score of 60 – made in a vain and increasingly desperate run chase as England tried to keep the series alive in Adelaide’s third Test – also ended controversially as he miscued another expansive stroke when aiming to hit a fifth successive boundary.