Former England paceman Stuart Broad believes that restricting Australia batter Steve Smith will hold the key for the visiting side to have a chance at winning a first Ashes series away from home in 15 years.
Ben Stokes’ side will kick off their challenge against Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday. The first of five Tests will see England go up against a weakened team that will be led by Smith in the absence of their captain and pace spearhead Pat Cummins. Aussie quick Josh Hazlewood will also miss out.
With Australia’s top-order in shaky form, and their famed pace trio – Cummins, Hazlewood and Mitch Starc – far from fully fit, England have been tipped to have a good chance at this year’s Ashes. But Broad has warned that Australia will have the edge if Smith is in form, saying he can single-handedly turn games in the visitors’ favour.
“To win the series, we have to keep him (Smith’s average) to under 50, don’t we? ” Broad said on the ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast, which he co-hosts alongside Jos Buttler.
“He’s gonna score a hundred, it’s what he does. (If) he averages 40, that’s at least 15 under his career average, so you’re doing brilliantly. I think you have to get him early,” he added. “If England aren’t celebrating in his first 40 runs, it’s going to be a long series.”
The Broad-Smith battle has been one of the few positives for England in the Ashes this decade. The former fast bowler dismissed Smith 11 times, more than any other bowler. But he maintains he still does not know any discernible weaknesses in the 36-year-old Aussie batter.
“I remember he got this big two hundred (239 in Perth in 2017) and I did not miss the middle of his bat for three days. Every ball I tried to bowl just hit the middle of his bat. He’s got that mindset of ‘OK, this pitch suits me, and I’m not getting out’,” Broad said.
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“Obviously his technique has changed throughout, but I still can’t sit here and go ‘well this is how you get him out’. That’s an unbelievable strength of his. He’s incredibly difficult to bowl at. Sometimes you don’t feel like you’ve bowled a bad ball and it still goes for four,” he added.
Smith has played in every Ashes series since 2010/11, the last time England won down under, and averages 56.01 (the same as his overall Test average) in the series with 12 hundreds against England.
