I haven't picked up a bat in about two months: Steve Smith

Steve Smith is excited about taking up the bat for the first time in two months as the pay dispute between Cricket Australia (CA) and Australia Cricketers’ Association (ACA) came to an end with a signing of MOU recently. Smith reckons this is the rarest of times where he was out of the game and he is now gearing up to take the field for the first time since the Champions Trophy in England.

While many of his fellow mates were part of England county sides, featuring in the NatWest T20 Blast, Smith was enjoying his vacation with his partner during the crisis in Australian cricket over the last two months.

“I haven’t picked up a bat in about two months – and that’s rare for me. I haven’t had a break like this in a long while, so I’m excited to get back into hitting,” Steve Smith wrote in his column for Fox Sports. “But I have done lots of fitness and strength work and it gives me a bit of a baseline that I can maintain for a while.”

Keeping Ashes in mind

Smith has joined the Australian team in Darwin for their preparations ahead of the Test series in Bangladesh. The Australian skipper wrote in his column about how they will consider the series in view of the upcoming Ashes series though there is enough time before it.

“The Australian team has arrived in Darwin with only cricket on our minds and with two Test series to prepare for. That’s our two-Test series of Bangladesh in three weeks — but also the big one on the horizon, the Ashes,” wrote Smith.

“Normally, I don’t like to think too far ahead but the Ashes are going to sneak up pretty quick. And it’s good to set a few things that we need to look at and make sure we’re as prepared as well as we can be for the summer. You can never get your Ashes preparations started too early: it’s a series that means that much to us,” he added.

Bangladesh a dangerous side at home

Talking about the Bangladesh team, Smith said that the 9th ranked Test side have improved well over the past few years and might turn out to be a tough opponent in their home conditions. He also said that they will be taking the confidence of playing in India recently into this series.

“They’ve (Bangladesh) improved significantly over the past couple of years, particularly playing at home, and knocked England off at home in a Test last year. They’re certainly a dangerous side. But we will take confidence from playing in similar conditions to what we experienced in India earlier this year,” he wrote.