Veteran Australia batter Steve Smith believes that the England batters will find it quite hard to implement their 'Bazball' approach in The Ashes. He stated that the tricky pitches and the home side's experienced bowling attack will pose a big challenge for the visiting batters.
England do not have a great Test record Down Under as they last won a series there in 2011. Since then, they have failed to win a single match on Australian soil in the longest format with the batting being one of their weakest points. The Three Lions' recent 2-2 series draw against India saw them fail to begin the new World Test Championship (WTC) on a high.
“Their series against India was one of the best I’ve seen in years. They play aggressive cricket, but batting in Australia will be a big challenge. Our wickets have been tricky, and we’ve got an experienced, successful bowling attack,” Smith told Sky Sports.
Smith, who is featuring for the Welsh Fire in the Hundred, heaped praise on Joe Root for his sensational form in red-ball cricket especially in the last two years. Smith further credited the England batter for successfully converting his fifties into centuries in the format.
Root was sensational with the bat against India
Root had finished as England's top run-getter in the recently-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, scoring 537 runs in 9 innings, including three centuries and a fifty. Despite scoring hundreds around the world, the star batter has failed to record a three-digit score on Australian pitches so far in his career.
“He’s been outstanding the past two years, turning 50s into big hundreds. He hasn’t scored a Test hundred in Australia yet — I’m sure he’ll be aiming for it, but hopefully he doesn’t get it this summer. We’ll just let our skills do the talking. We know our conditions well and trust our game," Smith stated.
Meanwhile, the five-match Test series between Australia and England will commence later this year from November 21. It will be quite an important series for both the teams especially considering the changes that it is expected to make to the World Test Championship (WTC) points table.