Jamie Smith open to being England's No. 6 in Ben Stokes' absence

“It won’t bother me at all,” he said. “One of the things that’s been great in my career so far is I feel like I’ve batted in a variety of different positions and roles anyway, and I’ve gained some of these experiences. They might be at a lesser level in the County Championship, but I still feel like I’ve been able to adapt and get some experience under my belt – and the difference between No. 7 and No. 6 isn’t a massively great one anyway.”

“The games didn’t go five days,” Smith said, “but for me, it was just mentally quite draining. It probably took more out of me than I was expecting, with all the emotions that came with it, the expectation, and a bit of added pressure… It’s been different for me. Mentally and physically, it was quite a lot in three weeks, going from county cricket into that, and with the potential for more stuff to come.”

It prompted Smith to ask Birmingham Phoenix, his Hundred team, to miss their match against Southern Brave straight after the third Test. “It was nice to have just an extra week of a breather, basically,” he said. “I was very thankful to Birmingham for allowing that to happen.” He is now back involved as they push for a spot in the knockout stages.

The break allowed Smith time to evaluate his first few weeks as a Test cricketer. “It was nice to have a little bit more reflection time,” he said. “It was a successful start, but it’s only just the start. It was nice to get out there and experience it all, and be in an environment which allows you to thrive, and where you can play with good confidence and be yourself.”

Playing in the Hundred has also given Smith the chance to continue keeping ahead of the Sri Lanka series. “If I didn’t play in this, I would have had no match practice,” he said. “It will be difficult again going back to the red ball: it brings its own unique challenges when keeping. But there will be enough time to practise that in the lead-up to the series.”

Smith made his international debut last September in an ODI series against Ireland and England see him as an all-format player in the long term. But it will be a challenge to manage his workload in the next four months: they have a white-ball series against Australia straight after the Sri Lanka Tests, followed by Test series in Pakistan and New Zealand and a white-ball tour against West Indies sandwiched between them.

“It’s in the back of your mind slightly with how busy the schedule is,” Smith said. “There seems to be a bit of a backlog over the next few months. It’s my aspiration to play all formats for England… but you are always looking further down the line on potential workloads, and jumping around series to series is not sustainable for anyone, really, with it being so crammed at the moment.”

Smith’s situation is further complicated by the fact that he and his girlfriend are expecting their first child in December, which could affect his availability for some of England’s Test series in New Zealand. “It’s not been massively discussed,” he said. “I’ll just play it by ear… there’s no guarantee that I’ll be selected for anything moving forward anyway.”

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98