Brisbane: Following a 101-run knock against India at the Brisbane Test, Australia batter Steve Smith said that it was nice to get the three figures after a while. Smith’s return to form marked his first century in 25 innings, the longest gap in his career without reaching three figures. His previous longest gap was 22 innings, from his debut to his maiden Test century.
Across 344 international matches, Smith has now scored 16,561 runs at an average of 47.58, with 45 centuries, 80 fifties, and a highest score of 239.
Smith said that it’s been tricky for him in the first couple of games of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. “It’s just nice to get to three figures, been a while. It’s been tricky, the first couple of games: had a couple of nice balls. Got strangled down the leg side in Adelaide. But I feel like I’ve been batting nice over the last month or so.
“Just sticking to my processes. Trusting that it’ll turn around. You need a bit of luck on these surfaces that we’re playing on at the moment. I think I got a bit of luck early on and, I guess, I made the most of it,” he added.
Dominating show
Travis Head said that he enjoyed batting with the veteran and hilariously noted that whenever the 35-year-old bats, he goes unnoticed.
Speaking to Star Sports, Head said, “I have always enjoyed playing with Steve, and I think you go back to that Test Championship. I have always felt when he is in the zone and when he is batting really well, I almost go unnoticed.
“Back in his, I am not going to say heyday, but in the couple of years of Test where he proper dominated and didn’t ever feel like he was going to get out, I felt like I was invisible at the other end, and all the plans and everything went into Steve. Today felt a little bit like that. He rode his luck a little bit, but I felt like he was moving really well. I felt like I was not going to lose my partner at the other end, which means that I can be a little bit more relaxed in things, express myself a little bit more, knowing that, hey, at the other end, my partner’s going to hang around for me. I just enjoy the group. I enjoy the coaching staff,” he concluded.
Pressure on visitors
India bowling coach Morne Morkel said Smith-Head’s partnership put pressure on the visitors. “First of all, we can say he’s in pretty good form, guys playing like that. In that fashion, back-to-back innings, we can only give that also a lot of credit. But I think for us with the ball, if you look at it from over 50 to 80, even in the last game, at the moment, it’s where we sort of fall short, leaking a little bit.”
He accepted that India needs to focus on restricting runs from older balls in the future. “So that’s one area that I think we need to get better at. I think first up with the ball this morning, we were pretty good. At 3 for 70, you put two on the scoreboard there and you’re right back in the game. But take nothing away from two world-class players. Smith, we know, on the other hand, is a guy who also can bat back and score runs.
"So, yeah, they put a partnership on the board there, put us under pressure with a softer, older ball. And, yeah, so it’s definitely an area that we need to focus on, is maybe deeper in the innings in terms of game plans. Yes, we’ve got the game plans, but are we executing those game plans with a softer ball from both ends,” he added.
