Australia who will be playing the Trans Tasman tri-series final against New Zealand on Wednesday at Auckland will venture on a tough series to South Africa within just 5 days of the completion of the ongoing series.
Steve Smith, ahead of the series spoke about how eagerly he is awaiting to face the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel who will be an integral part of the South African bowling attack against a formidable Australian side.
It will be an enticing battle as both teams consists of some world class bowlers. On hand will be the Proteas pace quartet of Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, and Lungi Ngidi. On the other hand, Australia boasts of a fearsome trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins who took a stunning 66 wickets among themselves in the Ashes. Hence, it will be an encounter to savor. Looking forward to the enthralling prospect Australia skipper Steve Smith said that it will be a fantastic series for the viewers to watch.
“You love going up against the best bowlers in the world and South Africa have, in particular, two guys with pace – Rabada and Morkel. They’re quality bowlers, along with Philander who challenges your defence consistently. The batters should be looking forward to this series – you love going up against those sort of challenges. I think it’s going to be a fantastic series for the viewers to watch,” Cricbuzz quoted Smith as saying.
Looking back to the last year, Smith said that he was very happy with the brand of cricket they played. “I think we’ve made some really good strides in the last year. I thought we played some pretty good cricket in India without winning that series. We had moments where we could have won the series, and we were disappointed that we couldn’t convert those chances into wins. But we made good strides there. Obviously, the summer back home was fantastic to win 4-0. This series is going to be another good challenge for us. Both fast bowling line-ups are really good so it’s going to be a nice fiery series for the batters and it might be tough work as well. So I think we’ve come a long way" said Smith on Australia's performance for 2017.
Reflecting on how tough the series against South Africa will be Smith concluded saying “We saw some of the wickets that looked quite difficult for the batters,” Smith said before adding, “For us it’s just about playing what’s in front of you, whether you’ve got a flat wicket or a green wicket that’s doing something. You’ve just got to adapt and do the job. That’s my message to the boys – you don’t know what you’re going to get in each Test at each venue, and it’s just about playing the way you need to for each set of conditions.”
