‘Expect more short-pitched bowling’ – Smith

Steve Smith, the Australia captain, said his pacemen were set to continue their strategy of barraging lower-order batsmen with short-pitched bowling in the upcoming four-match Test series in South Africa.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were merciless against the England tail-enders in the Ashes recently, their relentless short-pitched bowling playing a big role in their 4-0 triumph. Apart from Stuart Broad, who swung his bat around to good effect on a couple of occasions, none of the other England tail-enders fared well against the bouncers, making for regular and dramatic lower-order collapses.

Asked if the South African batsmen could expect something similar, Smith said: “I think they [his pacemen] will go down a similar path. There could be some good short-pitched bowling throughout the series, to batters, to the tail, everyone from both sides.

"I don't think a great deal changes there."

That said, Smith was aware the South Africans boasted an attack of equal ferocity to Australia’s – Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel can both break the 150kph-barrier regularly, and in Vernon Philander and Lungi Ngidi, South Africa boast a seam-bowling pair that regularly threatened India in their recent three-match series.

Smith admitted he was excited by the prospect of facing up to them. "I think it's great, I'm excited by it,” he said. "You love going up against the best bowlers around the world and I think South Africa have two guys that bowl good pace, Rabada and Morkel. They're quality bowlers along with Philander, who's done what he's done for long periods of time where he challenges your defence consistently.

“I think it's really exciting and the batters should be looking forward to this series. You love going up against good pace and those sorts of challenges. It's going to be a fantastic series for the viewers to watch.”

Adding to what should be a series of intense pace bowling is the fact that pitches in South Africa traditionally favour bowlers. There was just one century – Virat Kohli’s brilliant 153 in Centurion – over the course of South Africa’s clashes against India, and the final match at the Wanderers aided the bowlers to such an extent that the International Cricket Council rated the pitch ‘poor’.

Smith, however, said he would not go into the series with preconceived notions. “We saw some of the wickets that looked quite difficult for the batters in the Indian series, but for us it's just about playing what's in front of you," he said. “Whether you've got a flat wicket, a green wicket that's doing something, a wicket that's up and down, you've just got to try and adapt to whatever you've got in front of you and do the job.

"That's my message to the boys at the moment. You don't know what you're going to get in each Test match in each venue. It's just about playing how you need to play in each set of conditions, that's the most important thing."