Steve Smith, who used to be the captain of Australia, said that he is excited to see how England’s bazball plan will work against Australian bowlers in the next Ashes. Smith smashed his 31st Test in the final of the World Test Championship 2023 at the Oval. This showed how good he was. He hit a hundred early on Day 2, which helped Australia score a huge 469 runs. Smith hit 121 runs on 268 balls, 19 of which were fours.
By the end of Day 2, all of Australia’s bowlers had taken one Indian wicket, bringing the score down to 151/5. Australia’s fast bowlers made it hard for India’s openers. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill both got out quickly to Pat Cummins and Scott Boland. Cameron Green then got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara, and Mitchell Starc got rid of Virat Kohli.
Smith, on the other hand, has said that he doesn’t think England’s bold strategies will work against them in the Ashes.
“It’s fun to play there. I think that, in terms of English grounds, it’s about as close as you can get to Australia. I’ve had a lot of fun playing here, and it was nice to get a few again. I mean, I think it would be hard on a wicket like this, which is uneven and seams around. It’s hard enough to protect, let alone come out and swing. So, yeah, I think I said when Bazball first started that I was interested to see how it would work against our bowlers. “I’ve always said that,” Smith said in the press meeting after the game.
It’s been fun to see England play cricket. Steve Smith
The 34-year-old also said that the England cricket team turned things around last year in Tests, but it’s still too early to tell how they’ll do against them.
“It’s clear that they’ve done well against some other threats, but they haven’t faced us yet. So, we’ll see. It’s clear that it’s been fun to watch. I have to say that I’ve liked watching how they’ve played and how, I guess, they’ve turned things around in the last year or so, but we’ll see how it goes against us,” Smith said.
After the WTC final, Australia and England will play five matches in the Ashes. The first test will start on June 16 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The last game will be played at Kennington Oval in London from June 27 to June 31.
India
