Steve Smith is on the cusp of inflicting a slice of statistical ignominy on England firebrand Jofra Archer in the second Test at the Gabba.

Smith has put plenty of good bowlers to shame during his remarkable career for Australia, but Archer is approaching an unwanted record against the 36-year-old batting maestro.

According to Opta data, 26 more wicket-less deliveries will see the Englishman become the bowler who has sent down the most balls to Smith in Test cricket without having claimed his scalp.

South Africa's retired allrounder Vernon Philander holds the current "record", having bowled 214 balls to Smith without claiming his wicket in the five-day game.

From their first meeting in the legendary showdown at Lord's in 2019 until now, Archer has delivered 189 balls to Smith and has the figures of 0-96.

The battle between the duo in the Test starting on Thursday could well decide the fate of the Ashes as England aim to bounce back from defeat in Perth.

Archer has dismissed Smith only once in ODI cricket - last year in the UK after he made 60 - but outside of that can only point to the Lord's knockout as a "win'' after the Australian was subbed out of the back half of that Test with concussion. He subsequently missed the following Test at Headingley.

The foundations of that rivalry are explored by cricket.com.au in the website's latest Stories After Stumps podcast episode, titled "Best Since Bradman: The Return of Steven Smith''.

In the documentary-style podcast, Smith speaks at length about his return to the game following the Cape Town scandal and his subsequent comeback to Test cricket in the 2019 Ashes, when his batting average ticked past 65 as he piled on 774 runs, including three hundreds.

"It felt like what people talk about Bradman was like back in the day," Pat Cummins says of Smith in the podcast.

"Every time we batted, it was like, 'Well, how many between 100 and 200 is he going to get this innings, or is he going to keep batting for longer?'

"They threw everything at him. You saw the bowlers lose their minds. It was just incredible."

The episode also explores the Smith-Archer showdown in detail, and looks back at how it ignited in the days after their Lord's face-off, with England villain Stuart Broad suggesting in a press conference that Archer would be demanding the ball as soon as Smith made his way to the middle.

Smith pointedly replied afterward: "I'm not really going to change anything - there's been a bit of talk that he's got the wood over me, but he hasn't actually got me out."

Days later, Smith went out at Old Trafford and scored 211 and 82 as Australia retained the Ashes for the first time in the UK since 2001.

More than six years on, Archer is still waiting to get his man.