{"id":364326,"date":"2024-01-31T06:34:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T07:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=364326"},"modified":"2024-01-31T20:05:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T20:05:11","slug":"smith-returns-serve-after-bold-test-career-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=364326","title":{"rendered":"Smith returns serve after bold Test career move"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\ufeffteve Smith<\/a> has responded to criticism around his move to the top of Australia<\/a>'s batting order, with his performances against the West Indies<\/a> coming under the microscope.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old gave up his middle-order role to replace David Warner<\/a> following his retirement from Test cricket, \ufeffallowing young gun Cameron Green<\/a> to return to the side.<\/p>\n

Smith struggled in the first innings of both matches against the Windies, but bounced back \ufeffwonderfully in the second Test, scoring an unbeaten 91 to almost help get the Aussies over the line<\/a> at the Gabba.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to the media prior to the ODI series that begins on Friday, the right-hander hit back at the noise around his form and believes he is well-suited to continue opening for Australia.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

\ufeff"There was a lot of commentary around I'd failed in two or three innings or whatever it was, I had a not out and two low scores – and now I think I'm averaging 60 as an opener," Smith said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

"I didn't really read too much into it. It was just another position. I've batted against a new ball numerous times … it's just a position I'm just playing and that's it.<\/p>\n

"I'll bat really wherever the team needs me to. I'm comfortable up top, I've enjoyed the first couple of weeks of it."<\/p>\n

Smith has now batted in every position from No.9 upwards at Test level with varying degrees of success contributing to his impressive overall average.<\/p>\n

Another player who has been in the firing line is Marnus Labuschagne, with many calling out his extended run of low scores – but Smith believes he will turn a corner soon.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I think he'll be the first to admit that he probably hasn't got the scores on the board that he would have liked, but I think he feels like he's batting well," he said.<\/p>\n

"I think as batters we're always sort of searching for that perfection, and sometimes when you do try that little bit too hard it makes it that little bit further away. He's definitely a thinker, sometimes maybe an overthinker, which I've said to him as well.<\/p>\n

"It's about sort of going to the basics and trusting yourself and doing all the work you want to do in the nets – but when you get out in the middle, it's just about focusing on that ball coming down at you and playing each one to the best of your ability."<\/p>\n

Australia will complete their white-ball commitments against the Windies over the coming weeks, before travelling across to New Zealand for a two-game Test series.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S\ufeffteve Smith has responded to criticism around his move to the top of Australia's batting order, with his performances against the West Indies coming under […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":364328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364329,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364326\/revisions\/364329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/364328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}