Overton's silent answer to Smith's jibe

Craig Overton had the perfect answer to Steven Smith's sledging without even uttering a word.

Overton, making his Test debut, had just been told by Smith that he was surprisingly slow for a Test bowler; a comment that no seamer would want to hear.

But Overton struck back with a delivery that nipped back and, according to the bowler at least, beat Smith for pace on its way to hitting the top of middle stump.

"It was nice that I beat him for pace," Overton said with a wide smile. "He was saying how slow I was. Then one went through him a little bit quicker and beat him for pace.

"He is obviously one of the best players in the world, so it was pretty nice."

While Overton felt England had "bowled pretty well all day" he did admit that they had discussed the lengths they had bowled in the first session and tightened up a little in the second.

"Potentially we did bowl a bit short in that first session," he said. "It was difficult with the rain breaks and coming on and off. It was a challenge and the first session didn't go to plan. But we spoke about in the changing rooms and knew we had to get our lengths right. We came back after lunch and bowled better.

"We're pretty happy. We bowled pretty well without quite getting the results we deserved. But they didn't get away from us and, if we can get early wickets, we're confident."

Overton was only told he was playing an hour or so before the game began, but his parents had travelled from Devon in the hope of seeing him play and were among a record crowd of over 55,000 at the Adelaide Oval.

"My dream was always to play for England and to play for a Test team against Australia in Australia is special," he said. "It was massive for me. You can't really put it into words what it means.

"And it was nice that my folks were here to see it. I hope I've made them proud."