We need to start turning the results around: Smith
The look on Steven Smith’s face at the end of the third One-Day International between India and Australia said it all. The five-match series had slipped out of Australia’s grasp, the winless streak had stretched to eight games, and the dream of winning an ODI series in India for the first time since 2009 had been nipped in the bud.
Smith has now turned up to face the media after every loss in the series. Frustrated by the 0-3 scoreline, the Australian captain didn’t try to hide his disappointment after his side went down yet again on Sunday (September 24), this time by five wickets at Holkar Stadium in Indore.
“It’s always hard when you lose,” he said. “Particularly when you lose 0-3. We’re down 0-3 at the moment. We’ve got to continue to try and motivate them (the players) and get them up for the next two games. We’ve got to start winning games of cricket. I think we’ve lost 13 of the last 15 games we’ve played away with two being no-results. That’s pretty ordinary. Not good enough for an Australian cricket team. We need to start turning the results around and winning some games of cricket.”
With the all-important Ashes coming up soon, the nightmarish run in limited-overs cricket could hamper Australia’s preparations for the marquee clash.
Aaron Finch bolstered the batting with a terrific comeback century to give Australia a platform to build on in the must-win game on Sunday, and both David Warner and Smith made good contributions. But the middle-order fluffed the chance of scoring 330-340 on a batting-friendly pitch and Australia finished with 293 for 6.
“It’s a different format (from the Ashes) but I’ll certainly like to start winning some games of cricket in every format to be honest,” said Smith. “Our results haven’t been good enough and we need to turn them around. I probably thought our first 38 overs with the bat was very good. That was the kind of template we were trying to set. Two guys in the top four going on (to score big) – one guy getting a hundred obviously, and the others sort of batting around that. Our first 38 overs were very good. We just weren’t able to execute it in the back end. We got 69 off the last 74 balls and lost five wickets. If we got to 330-340, which we probably should have, things certainly could have been different.
“I thought he (Finch) played really well today. Summed things up early, understood the pace of the wicket, played his big shots at the right time, and made some good decisions. We’ve been talking about it as a batting group, we’ve been having a lot of those collapses in the middle overs. I thought the decisions he made throughout his innings were very good – keep the right balls out, attack the spinners.
“Hopefully they (Finch and Warner) can keep consistently scoring at the top. It really sets things up for the guys coming in next. If they get off to a good start, it gives the batsmen a bit of time to get in and get used to the pace of the wicket and things like that.”
Before Finch fell trying to up the ante in that 38th over, Australia was 224 for 1. With Smith and Glenn Maxwell departing soon after Finch, India came back in the game, and from there, made sure the new batsmen found it hard to rotate the strike, thereby slowing down the run rate.
“I think a mixture of guys making the wrong decisions off wrong balls and some well-executed bowling from the Indians (led to the situation),” explained Smith. “I think (Jasprit) Bumrah and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) are probably two of the best death bowlers going around, particularly when the wicket sort of slows up a little bit like it did here. We still need to find a way. We set it up nicely but we just weren’t able to execute it in the back end.
“I’d say execution (was lacking) on this occasion; 69 off the last 74 when you have got so many wickets in the shed against a team with the quality of batters India have – just not good enough.”
In all three games, there were times when Australia got into strong positions, but it simply let go of the advantage each time.
“That’s probably become a bit of a trend for this format and the Test format as well,” said Smith. “We are quite often getting ourselves in good positions but not taking advantage of those. Today was no different. We continually address it. It’s just hard to put your finger on what we are actually doing or not doing to get the results we are after.”
There were a couple of dropped chances – some easy, some a bit harder – during India’s chase that also made a difference in the end. Rohit Sharma, who bludgeoned his way to a 62-ball 71, was dropped twice, once by Maxwell at point, and the other time by Peter Handscomb behind the stumps. Hardik Pandya, whose 78 off 72 ensured India went over the line without much trouble in the end, was dropped by Smith himself in the 37th over.
“It went up in the air and was swirling a little bit, there was a fair bit of spin on the ball as well,” pointed out Smith. “I expect myself to take those chances. If I get my hands to the ball, I expect to catch them. At the moment, my catching hasn’t been good enough. I think I’ve dropped one in every game I’ve played so far (in this series). I’ve been working hard, maybe I just need to work a little bit harder to try and set the standard.”