Australia are currently having the upperhand in the ongoing World Test Championship final as India are trailing in the first innings by 209 runs with six wickets down. Earlier, Australia posted a total of 469 in the first innings and Steve Smith played an important role as well with the stunning knock of 121 runs off 268 deliveries during his stay at the crease and also added a 285-run stand for the fourth wicket with Travis Head as well.
While talking about his knock after the end of the day’s play, Smith stated that The Oval is similar to Australian wickets as well.
“It’s a nice place to play. I think in terms of English wickets it’s probably as close to Australia as you get I suppose. I’ve enjoyed playing here and it was nice to score a few out here again,” he stated in the press conference after the end of the day’s play.
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However, after the fixture, Australia will play against their arch-rival England for the 2023 Ashes series starting on June 16. They have a strong bowling attack and it would be interesting to see whether England will apply their attacking cricket. Talking about whether England will stick to the Bazball, Smith said that he will be intrigued to see how England’s game plan works against the Australian bowlers.
However, England have won 11 of their 13 Tests since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took the reins last year and the team approached the aggressive format. And, Steve Smith said that he has enjoyed watching England bat in that way as well.
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“I mean, I think it’d be difficult on this kind of wicket that’s up and down and seaming around – it’s not easy to defend, let alone come out and swing. So, yeah, I think I said it initially when Bazball started that I’m intrigued to see how it goes against our bowlers. I’ve said that all along. They’ve obviously done well against some other attacks, but they haven’t come up against us yet. So, we’ll see. It’s obviously been exciting to watch. I must say I’ve enjoyed watching the way they’ve played and the way that I guess they’ve turned things around in the last 12 months or so, but it’s yeah we’ll wait and see how it comes off against us,” Steve Smith concluded.
