AUS vs PAK: Important to get used to Gabba bounce ahead of first Test, states Steve Smith
Steve Smith has stated that it’s important for him to get used to the bounce that the Gabba wicket offers ahead of the first Test against Pakistan on Thursday.
After a year and a half away from Test cricket, Steve Smith announced his return to the format in style in the Ashes earlier this year, scoring an astonishing 774 runs in just 4 Tests to help Australia retain the Urn in England for the first time since 2001. But he has incredibly stretched the same form across different formats and competitions, striking two unbeaten fifties in the T20Is against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, whilst also scoring two centuries in the Sheffield Shield for his state side New South Wales.
Now ahead of the first Test versus Pakistan, where the Bookmakers have heavily favoured the hosts with odds of 1.25, Smith, who struck a masterful 141* the last time he played at the Gabba, has stated that it’s important for him to get adjusted to the bounce of the wicket.
"I'm feeling good. 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,” Smith was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
The 30-year-old further went on to explain about the flatness of the Sydney wickets where he’d scored the tons in the Shield and emphasized on the importance of acclimatizing himself to the Gabba track, which, unlike several other pitches in the country, is an extremely lively one.
"I don't think I had a slip in basically for the whole time I batted at Drummoyne and the SCG. 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,” Smith explained.
"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," the New South Welshman added.
The last time the two sides met in Test cricket, the destroyer-in-chief was Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas, who ran through the Aussie batsmen, claiming 17 wickets in just 2 matches. Smith, who was then still serving his one-year ban, has stated that he is looking forward to embrace the challenge of Abbas, who might be a handful for the Aussie batsmen on the bouncy home tracks.
Furthermore, Smith also talked up teenage sensation Naseem Shah, who made heads turn with his rollicking pace in the warm-up game against Australia ‘A’ in Perth last week.
"I've never faced Abbas...he stands the seam up, any sort of movement he'll get the most out of it.
“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."
Having been Australia’s ‘top batsman’ in each of the four Ashes Tests he featured in, Smith will enter the Pakistan series as the firm favorite to walk away with that very tag yet again. Hence, unsurprisingly, at 2.62, Bet365 have Smith as the favorite to be Australia’s top batsman in the first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba which will commence from November 21.
