Star Australia batter Steve Smith expects the upcoming Ashes to be challenging for England's batters. The marquee series is slated to begin on November 21, and ahead of that, Smith noted that the conditions in England are pretty different from those in Australia, and for the same reason, he expects the visitors to face some difficulty in playing the new ball. He mentioned that the wickets in Australia have favoured the bowlers in the last few years, and England, on the other hand, are accustomed to batting-friendly surfaces.
“Their batters are going to be challenged a little bit differently to the wickets they have had over in England for a while, which have looked pretty flat and good for batting. The wickets in Australia in the last three or four years have been very tricky for top order batters. It is going to be a good challenge for them,” Smith told BBC Sport.
Smith’s analysis comes during the ongoing series between England and India. Both sides have been dominating with the bat and Smith expects the Ashes to be equally competitive, if not more.
“But it's going to be a wonderful series. I have been watching the India and England series and there has been some great cricket played there, so I think the Ashes this year is going to be an absolute belter,” he said.
England have started to play a little bit differently: Smith
England have aggressive batting popular in Test cricket, but according to Smith, they have tweaked their strategy in the last couple of weeks and have been playing as per the situation in order to win games.
“They have started to play a little bit differently in the last couple of weeks in terms of playing the situation, as opposed to going out and trying to be the entertainers that they said they wanted to be. They are actually trying to win the games now which is perhaps different to what was said in their comments previously,” Smith said.