Morgan: We won’t stress about Smith
ENGLAND have spent all winter debating how to claim the wicket of Steve Smith — but limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan was quick to talk down its significance as they attempt to turn the tables on Australia.
Smith’s bat loomed large over the Ashes, contributing a hefty 687 runs, and at times the Australia captain appeared to be playing a different game to everybody else.
Yet opposite number Morgan does not anticipate him being so influential when the five-match Gillette Series opens here at the MCG tomorrow.
‘ I don’t think he is the key wicket,’ said Morgan. ‘He is an unbelievable player but there are loads of other impact players in their side and we will be trying to get as many of them out as we can.’
Liam Plunkett, England’s leading one-day wicket-taker over the past year, concurred: ‘He has been playing red-ball cricket and we’ll just approach it how we play every other game. That’s why we’ve been successful these last couple of years.’
To get to Smith, England must get through the sabre-rattling duo of David Warner and Aaron Finch first, but they have the confidence to do so given the improvement in their one- day bowling under Trevor Bayliss.
Unlike its Test equivalent, the 50-over team have top-end pace in the form of Plunkett and Mark Wood and penetrative wrist spin from Adil Rashid — and the team’s bowling numbers are very much on the up.
During 2015, England averaged 7.32 wickets per match, 7.30 in 2016 and last year it was up to 7.74.
‘We are going into this series with the mantra that we always need to be testing the opposition,’ said Morgan. ‘This time next year we need to be in a good enough space to be contenders for the World Cup.’
And playing in Australian conditions will show how far Morgan’s team have come since their ignominious exit at the group stage of the last one here in 2015.