It's like an episode of 厳密に Come Dancing: The fidgets and the fiddles are getting worse as Aussie run machine Steve Smith tries to 勝利，勝つd up the England bowlers in second 実験（する）

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As if conscious that rain would 妨げる any play after lunch on the third day of this second 実験（する）, Steve Smith seemed 決定するd to cram in as much entertainment into the morning as possible.

It wasn't a question of the balls he 得点する／非難する／２０d off: he was unbeaten on 13 off 40 when the umpires called a 停止（させる） の直前に the scheduled interval at 1pm. No, it was about the balls he left alone, おもに with the 肉親，親類d of 繁栄する last seen in a 実験（する） match when West Indies' arch-rabbit Courtney Walsh would shoulder 武器, do the hokey-cokey, then 直す／買収する，八百長をする the bowler with a deranged 星／主役にする.

Walsh, though, compiler of a 実験（する）-記録，記録的な／記録する 43 ducks, had to squeeze in his fun while it lasted. Smith, by contrast, is 形態／調整ing up as the greatest thing since Don Bradman. If there is a sense of 差し迫った doom, it usually belongs to the bowler.

Steve Smith took the idiosyncrasies to a new level as England tried to bore him out on Friday

But even while he was 得点する／非難する／２０ing 144 and 142 to bend the first 実験（する） at Edgbaston to his quirky will, there were critics ? おもに English, it must be said ? who complained he was easier to admire than to watch.

The fidgets and the fiddles, the 強く引っ張る of a loose-fitting part of his 道具, the impatient gestures after a rare instance of 選ぶing out a fielder ? it all 追加するd up, said his detractors, to a 深く，強烈に uncomfortable experience, like 観察するing the inner workings of an overactive mind.

At Lord's on the third morning, Smith took the idiosyncrasies to a new level as England tried to bore him out with an 誇張するd fifth-stump line. He flipped his bat upside 負かす／撃墜する with a staccato sleight of 手渡す, or kicked up his 支援する foot like a 1920s flapper girl. At one point he almost pirouetted a 十分な circle.

Who knew that a game of cat and mouse on or around off stump could so easily become an episode of 厳密に Come Dancing?

The Australian flipped his bat upside 負かす／撃墜する and?kicked up his 支援する foot during third day

What, 正確に／まさに, was Smith playing at? One theory surmised he was trying to get under the bowlers' 肌s, just as England wicketkeeper Jack Russell used to when he 成し遂げるd comedy leave-alones while wearing a pair of shades so his 対抗者s couldn't see into his soul.

But that didn't really stack up. Smith has 得点する／非難する／２０d plenty of runs against England in 最近の years without behaving like a hyperactive mime artist. And the only time the fielders even hinted at irritation was when Stuart 幅の広い at 中央の-off 投げつけるd the ball 支援する to Jonny Bairstow in Smith's general 周辺.

More 納得させるing was the suggestion that he was 捜し出すing an 出口 for nervous energy, not least because he's playing only his second 実験（する） in nearly a year and a half since the sandpaper fiasco in Cape Town. That's a lot of pent-up activity to 解放（する）, a lot of 一打／打撃s gone unplayed, runs gone begging.

If the world's best batsman wants to 成し遂げる the do-si-do after passing up the 適切な時期 to 削減（する） a wide one past gully, who are we to say さもなければ?

He has 得点する／非難する／２０d plenty of runs against England without behaving like a hyperactive mime artist

One or two muttered darkly about obsession and compulsion, as if Smith were 簡単に 制定するing the 地位，任命する-配達／演説／出産 同等（の） of making sure, as he does, that he can't see his shoelaces while he's at the crease. After all, he did himself once 収容する／認める: 'I'm a bit of a headcase when it comes to everything with my batting.'

陳列する，発揮するd by anyone else, the extravagancies would have felt 影響する／感情d. Somehow, Smith 会社にする／組み込むs them as if they are a natural part of his batting persona.

'He is やめる fidgety,' said Stuart 幅の広い, 選ぶing for understatement before even せいにするing one of the umpiring 決定／判定勝ち（する）s ? his own 拒絶するd 脚-before shout against Travis 長，率いる, overturned on review ? to Smith's twitchiness.

'I think he might have done Aleem Dar on 長，率いる's lbw, because he threw his arm out as if to say that was going to go 負かす／撃墜する the 脚 味方する,' said 幅の広い. 'I think Aleem was going to give it, and then saw Smith's arm go.

Smith was unbeaten on 13 off 40 balls when the umpires called a 停止（させる） の直前に 1pm

'He explains every bit of cricket on the field with his movements after it's happened. It's the way he stays in his 泡 and he does it very 井戸／弁護士席.'

From Steve Waugh, Australia's 助言者 and a former tormentor of English bowling in his heyday, there was a wry smile as he 査定する／（税金などを）課すd Smith's unique 質s.

'He 準備するs for everything,' said Waugh. 'He would have thought of every シナリオ. That's just the way he is. I've never played with or seen anyone やめる like him.'

That was certainly one way of putting it. Both 味方するs, though, could agree on one thing: on Saturday, and no 疑問 for the 残り／休憩（する） of the series, the wicket of Smith will 持つ／拘留する the 重要な, and it won't 事柄 a damn what he looks like.?