We’ve been outplayed – Aussie skipper Smith

Skipper Steven Smith has more worries in this mind to attend to than ponder on his team losing their number one Test ranking barely 12 days after receiving the mace from ICC chief executive Dave Richardson for attaining the top spot.

“We’ve been outplayed in both Test matches and the moods not great at the moment. Guys are a bit down at the moment and fair enough to it’s been a tough series so far,” said Smith reflecting on his team’s 229-run defeat inside three days at Galle International Stadium on Saturday. “Bit disappointed but we got plenty to play for in Colombo (SSC). We got to try and prove to ourselves and the public that we can play in these conditions.”

What has troubled the Australian batsmen most is the ball skidding off the surface and the one that spins away from the bat.
Australia’s stand out bowler in the series Mitchell Starc.

“They got some quality bowlers in their team, they do get the ball to skid and spin sharply as well. When the ball does spin sharply it sort of plays on your mind that you might just play outside it. We haven’t been good enough with it we have to find ways to make sure that we are covering the ball that doesn’t spin, the majority of the time if it spins, it spins too far,” explained Smith. “We just have to forget about playing the ball before essentially, and play the ball as it comes if it does spin it spins past the stumps.

“It’s sort of instinct all the guys growing up in Australia the majority of wickets we play on, they are pretty true they don’t often see too many spinning past the bat or the one that does go straight. It sort of doesn’t speed up off the wicket as such so certainly it’s a lot easier to play spin in Australia. We have to find ways to do it differently here,” he said.

“The guys have learnt a little bit from the way the Lankan batters play. We saw a lot of sweep shots from them reverse sweeps, the guys have learnt a little bit and have their own plans and have the courage to implement the plans in the middle. It’s never easy when the ball is spinning and skidding. We don’t know which one is which, with guys around the bat it’s difficult, you’ve got to have the courage to find a way to do it.”

It’s not only with their batting that Smith has concerns but also with his spinners who have failed to show the same success as the Lankan trundlers.

“They didn’t get many wickets did they? We need to find ways to bowl differently to how we bowl our spin in Australia,” said Smith. “You look at the Sri Lankan spinners or any of the subcontinent spinners they bowl that sort of side seam on the ball where they can go up and down with their speeds and trajectory and the ball reacts differently – one ball goes straight on and speeds up off the wicket, one ball spins and you don’t know which ones. I don’t think the bowlers actually know which one is which either. “In Australia traditionally you are taught to get on top of the ball and you need that shape to try and do the batsman in, drift and shape in the air whereas it’s exactly the opposite playing in the subcontinent. The ones with the side seam are extremely hard to face and our spin bowlers need to continue working on that. It’s bowling a completely different way to bowling in Australia.

“It’s about time our spinners finding a way to bowl a bit better in these conditions. The shape has to change the way the ball comes out of the hand instead of going on top of the ball go around the ball, things like that to try and deceive the batsmen more off the pitch than in the air in these conditions,” he said.

“To be fair all of the fast bowlers did a pretty good job for us in this game. But to be fair it should not be them taking the wickets but it should be our spinners getting the job done. Jon Holland in his first test is obviously going to be nervous, you can excuse that a little bit but the spinners have to find a way to get wickets and keep the runs dry on these surfaces. We have gone over four an over for both Test matches.”

Smith was full of praise for his fast bowler Mitchell Starc who has bowled exceptionally well on spin oriented pitches to capture 17 wickets which is the most by any bowler on either side so far.

“Mitchell’s been outstanding yesterday (Friday) after a very short break basically bowled for two days and never once did he say that he needed a break, He wanted to bowl more and more,” said Smith. “He’s certainly toughened up a lot as an Australian fast bowler he is doing a terrific job at the moment. When the ball is reverse swinging he is incredibly hard to face. He is continuing to improve every day which is a great sign for Australia.”