The World Test Championship final (WTC) 2023 is coming to a close quickly, and talk of the upcoming Ashes is in the news so much that it’s hard to miss. The five-match Test series is set to start in Birmingham on June 16. During the series, England would keep an eye on a lot of names in the Australian team. But the hardest thing for England to do would be to get Australian star batter Steve Smith out of the game. The 34-year-old has always been a strong player, and that could be the case again when Australia plays England.
Steve Smith made a great hundred against India in the first innings of the WTC final, and he would like to keep up that great form. In the same vein, Nasser Hussain, who used to be captain of England, came forward to warn England about Smith’s performance in the Ashes.
“The bad news for England is that Steve Smith’s game doesn’t have any big flaws. It’s why he gets 60 on most of his tests. And that’s why, unlike some Australians from the past few years, he has done so well in this country. “His first-innings hundred against India in the final of the World Test Championship was the most recent example,” Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail piece.
You risk giving him a run. Hussain
Also, Nasser Hussain gave his thoughts on what England could do to get rid of Steve Smith. Hussain thought that the best way to beat Smith might be to bowl at him at full length.
“India bowled back of a length to Smith for too long, and he is better than anyone I’ve ever seen at getting those balls to his leg. By the time they got fuller, he had his eye in, but if England doesn’t succeed in putting him leg-before after 20 or 30 balls, they can try going a little farther from the crease and aiming for the fourth stump outside off, Hussain said.
“You could then try to surprise him by slipping in a fullish ball on the pads, but as a fielding captain, you might only be able to do that once or twice a day once Smith is set.” If you don’t, you risk giving him the runs,” he said.
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