Smith worries as Aussies let opponents off

AUSTRALIA captain Steve Smith is worried about his team’s failure to convert potentially winning positions i n t o v i c t o r i e s a f t e r l o s i n g t he one-day international series against India.

The visitors went down to the Virat Kohli-led side by five wickets in Indore on Sunday after opener

Aaron Finch had blasted 124 to give Australia the edge.

“We’re quite often getting ourselves into good positions and we’re not taking advantage of those, and today was no different,” Smith said after the defeat that left his side trailing 3-0 in the fivematch series. “We c o n t i n u a l l y address it and it’s just hard to put the finger on exactly what it is we’re doing or not doing to get the results we’re after,” he added.

Despite Finch’s knock, Australia ended on 293-6, too small a score to defend at the battingfriendly Holkar Stadium.

This was not the first time the visitors had let India off the hook in the series. In the opening match India were at one stage 87-5 but posted a matchwinning 281-7.

“It’s been a bit of a trend for this format and the Test format as well,” said a worried Smith (pictured, AFP).

Australia have won just three out of 17 matches across all three formats since a one-day series victory at home against Pakistan in January.

The current defeat was Australia’s 11th loss in their past 13 ODIs away from home – a worrying trend for the team that is two months away from a home Ashes series against England.

“It’s a different format [to the Ashes], but I’d certainly like to start winning some games of cricket in every format, to be honest,” Smith said.

“We’ve got to start winning games of cricket. We’ve lost 11 of our past 13 games we’ve played away with two no results, so that’s pretty ordinary – and not good enough from an Australian cricket team.”

Former Australia fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz defended the team’s miserable run in India, saying it takes time adapting to sub-continent conditions.

“In these conditions you expect the Indian players to be the best . . . it’s a case of adapting your skills to suit the conditions here and it takes time,” Kasprowicz said in New Delhi.

“It’s difficult because the conditions are so different from . . . in Australia.”