Steve Smith has been going through a purple patch with the bat since his return to international cricket after completing the one-year ban. He smashed a whopping 774 runs in the Ashes and helped his side to retain the urn. Although he didn’t have the best starts to the home summer as he scored 0 and 21 against Queensland at the Gabba in the Sheffield Shield. However, he wants to speed up his game in the first Test against Pakistan which will be played on a fast Gabba pitch.

“I’m feeling good,” Smith said. “I probably just have to try and get used to the bounce of the wicket again at the Gabba. It’s probably a little bit different to the last two Shield games I’ve played at Drummoyne and SCG, where they’ve been pretty benign wickets.

“I just found it hard scoring. There was no slip, there was a ring field, the square was pretty dead, and the wicket was pretty dead. There were a couple of times I hit and got it in the gap and thought ‘that’s runs. So I couldn’t get them away, but it’s nice to spend some time in the middle all the same,”he added

“For me, the next few days is about getting used to the bounce at the Gabba and practicing leaving (the ball) well, and just being patient again. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of that work in, and be good to go on Thursday,” he shared.

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It won’t be an easy task to win against Pakistan as their pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Muhammad Musa and Naseem Shah will give a tough fight.

“I’ve never faced Abbas he stands the seam up, any sort of movement he’ll get the most out of it,” Steve Smith said. “And it looks like Shah bowls with some good pace. Being as young as he is, he probably hasn’t bowled lots of overs consistently so it’ll be about making him come back and bowl as many spells as he can and see if he can maintain it.”