Smith pushes winner theme

A 5-0 WHITEWASH would entrench Steve Smith’s team in Ashes folklore but the Australian skipper has told his men they can’t make history without winning in Melbourne first.

Smith will carry a sore hand into the Boxing Day Test after copping a blow on Sunday and conceded he might have to bat a bit differently as he and the Aussies look to keep their foot on English throats.

But that “just win’’ mentality remains the key driver for the Aussies who know history beckons if they can continue their momentum in Melbourne and make winning the sort of habit Smith hopes his men can’t shake.

“We are pretty confident. It has been a good summer so far,’’ Smith said.

“We have won back the urn which was the objective. We now have an opportunity to keep winning,” Smith said after surviving a Christmas Day net session unscathed.

“That has been my message to the boys.

“Don’t worry about 5-0 at this stage, you have to win this one first, and keep winning games of cricket.

“Winning can become a habit and for us it’s about staying in those good habits.”

Smith was asked if he wanted to “humiliate” the hapless tourists who have floundered in key moments of the series so far and skipper Joe Root has come under fire for acting more like a “little boy” than a leader.

But the Aussie skipper was all about his team.

“Humiliate? I just want to keep playing good cricket and winning games of cricket,” Smith said.

Smith confirmed Jackson Bird would replace Mitchell Starc and said the Tasmanian seamer “deserves a crack” after touring without playing twice already this year.

The Aussie attack faces an arduous task on a wicket Josh Hazlewood called the “flattest in Australia”.

But it has also provided the perfect landscape for Smith’s brilliance in recent summers.

He has scored 192, 134 not out and last year 165 not out to average 127.60 at the MCG.