CT 2017: We should have been good enough in the one hit we got, says Steve Smith

Team Australia had a forgettable time in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. They saw two of their three league games being washed out. The third game, which yielded a result, was also a rain-interfered one which did not got their way as far as the results are concerned. The skipper, Steve Smith is bound to be unhappy. In the last league game, a do or die for the Aussies, they lost to England by DLS method.

Reflecting back at the game in the press conference, Steve Smith noted that they were in a good position but the middle-order let them donw. They needed someone to hit a big hundred. He, however, brushed side the fact that the team could use the wash out games as an excuse. He stressed that the team should have won against England.

“We got ourselves in a pretty good position early with the bat. We kept losing wickets through the middle, and someone in the top four probably needed to go on and make a hundred. We weren’t able to do that. We lost 5 for 15 at one point as well, which you can’t afford to do against an opposition like England,” quoted Steve Smith as per the quotes in Cricbuzz.

“You say that we only had one hit, but that should be good enough for the players that we’ve got on our team. You know, we’ve got some good players in our lineup. We just weren’t able to get those partnerships together today and get ourselves a score up over 300. England probably bowled a fraction short with the newer ball, and when they got it up there, it was quite hard work,” he added further.

Crediting the English batsmen

In the second innings, the Australian bowlers did really well send the English openers for single digit scores. They had three quick wickets to their kitty. However, they failed to capitalize as Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes put on a marathon stand. A century from Stokes and a fifty from Morgan set up the English win. Steve Smith lauded the efforts of the two batsmen.

“To get three early wickets was quite crucial and then it seemed like there was a bit of a momentum shift after that rain delay. Stokesy and Morgy came out and played very positively. We were off a bit with the way we were bowling. We gave them a lot of freebies, but they did play exceptionally well,” said Smith.

On dropping Morgan

In the game, there arrived a stage when the team had created a half chance to dismiss Morgan cheaply. It was wicket-keeper Matthew Wade who failed to latch onto the catch. Morgan went on to score 87 with the bat. Smith rued the lost chance after the game.

“It certainly hurt. After that, Morgy got going and played particularly well. So we could have had them 4 for 30-odd or wherever we were there and Jos [Buttler] in with a reasonably new ball, which he’s probably not used to that much,” quipped the Aussie skipper.

On fatigue

Some believed that the excess of cricketing action cost the Aussie side in the tournament. The IPL and the matches prior to that could have been the reasons. However, Steve Smith remarked that they certainly cannot use this as an excuse when on national duty.

“That’s no excuse. When you’re playing in a big tournament for your country, you need to step up and get the job done. We weren’t able to get that done on this occasion. We had some frustrating games throughout and just haven’t been able to find any momentum. It was disappointing,” remarked Smith.