ALL SET FOR ASHES SHOWDOWN
Don’t mention whitewash Smith hand pain
A SORE hand may force Steve Smith to tweak his approach during the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne, where Australia’s skipper has urged teammates to put thoughts of a whitewash to the back of their mind.
Smith was on the wrong end of a freakish injury scare on Christmas Eve, when a ball driven by Cameron Bancroft burst over the nets and struck him on the right hand.
Smith, waiting for a bat at the time, wasn’t wearing gloves. The classy right-hander, who boasts a Test average of 127.6 at the MCG after posting centuries in the past three Box- ing Day games, had a short hit on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Smith admitted on match eve he still isn’t 100 per cent.
“It was a little bit sore today playing a few different shots,” he said yesterday.
“But I’ll be able to deal with it and I’ll get on with it. Maybe I’ll just have to use a bit more of my top hand throughout the game, a bit less wristy.
“I copped a few (on the right hand) in the nets in Perth and a few more in the game.
“It just seems to be whenever you’re getting hit in a spot — it just continually gets hit.”
Bancroft apologised profusely after striking the world’s best batsman.
“I didn’t give him much (initially). He kept coming up p ... it’s all good, accidents happen,” en,” Smith said.
The captain, who has helped ped his side reclaim the urn with man-of-the-match knocks in Brisbane and Perth, implored red England to try to target the injury.
“I hope so, on this wicket,” he said.
“It doesn’t have quite the same pace and bounce as the WACA did, so if you’re bowling that length out there it’s not a bad thing.
“It looks pretty flat. It doesn’t look like there will be a great deal of sideways move- ment, maybe a bit of reverse swing as the game goes on.”
But Smith insisted the hosts, who have replaced injured spearhead Mitchell Starc in their XI with Jackson Bird, can claim a 4-0 lead on the docile deck.
“We’ve been able to get results here in the last couple of years,” he said. “We’re going to have to work hard, first-innings runs are going to be crucial again. Hopefully we can get the ball reversing and hopefully there’s a little bit of spin for Nath (Nathan Lyon).”
England was competitive at various points in the opening three Tests but went missing at clutch moments.
Smith, who was part of the unchanged XI that enjoyed a 5-0 series win over England four years ago, is determined to keep his foot on the tourists’ throat.
“We’ve now got an opportunity to keep winning. That’s been my message to the boys, don’t worry about 5-0 at this stage,” Smith said. “You’ve got to win this one first.”