Australia coach backs under-fire Smith as opener for series against India
Rubbing salt to the injury, the 34-year-old Smith could only manage 51 runs from four knocks during the recently-completed 2-0 series victory over New Zealand.
Amidst many bowing down to Jofra Archer’s bowling, Australia captain Tim Paine is confident that the guests will not be intimidated by the 24-year-old England pacer in the third Ashes Test at Headingley.
Paine heaped praises on Archer, whose raw pace electrified the drawn second Test of the Ashes 2019. Archer, who made his Test debut in the second match, took five wickets and troubled the Aussies with his deadly bouncers packed with extra pace, leaving Steve Smith with a concussion that has ruled him out of the match at Leeds.
Meanwhile, Paine said Australia’s batsmen were used to facing pace and had a few useful speedsters of their own.
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“It’s fantastic to see a young cricketer with so much talent come onto the scene and it was a bit of a buzz to face him at Lord’s,” Paine wrote in a column for an Australian newspaper.
“He’s fast for sure, but in Australia we’ve been brought up facing guys of his pace.
“Every time we have a net (session) we have Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson coming at us like we are the opposition,” he said.
Paine said Smith’s replacement Marnus Labuschagne, who scored 59 when he came on as Test cricket’s first-ever concussion substitute, showed the depth of Australia’s squad.
Talking about the series so far, Australia lead by 1-0 after they won the first match while the second Test ended in a draw.
(With inputs from AFP)
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