Australia may look to promote Steve Smith up the batting order in an effort to combat Pakistan’s deadly spin bowling duo ahead of Thursday’s final Test in Abu Dhabi.
The dependable No.5 could replace Alex Doolan at No.3 as a counter to spin pair Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah, who took a combined nine wickets in the second innings to help sink the Aussies to a 221-run loss in Dubai on Sunday.
Coming off a sound effort in Australia’s three-match sweep of this month’s one day international series against Pakistan in the UAE, Smith says he’s up to challenge of being the designated hitter to face Babar and Shah.
“I think so, yeah, I feel really good at the crease, I’ve enjoyed the challenges of reverse swing and the spin and just feel really good,” said Smith when asked about a potential promotion. “If that was required, absolutely.”
The ICC’s 12th ranked international batter has enjoyed a stellar past year, averaging 47 runs across nine Tests during the span.
“I’m happy wherever the captain puts me, I’m just enjoying my cricket at the moment and hopefully spending a lot of time out in the middle again in the next Test, whether it’s No.3 through No.6.”
Coach Darren Lehmann believes the impact of Babar and Shah can be countered with improved concentration, claiming the UAE’s ‘spin-friendly’ wickets have failed to produce as much turn as expected and that his side instead fell to straight balls skidding onwards.
“This is a very good cricket wicket and we didn’t adapt well enough and didn’t play well enough,” Lehmann said. “When you are talking about learning how to play in these conditions we got beaten on the other side – with less spin. You would think it would spin more. We got beaten with straight balls, I think five or six dismissals throughout the game.”
“We have to get better at hitting the straight ball, watching the ball for a start, but they are things the guys will work on,” he added.
“We were disappointing with the bat, weren’t we? We have to find a way to get through that and make big scores. One of the things we haven’t done on the subcontinent is make big scores. We need to start piling it on. We should have made 500 on that wicket.”
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