Border, Waugh defend Smith’s captaincy

Brisbane: Allan Border has come out swinging in defence of Steve Smith, after the Australian skipper’s tactics at the Gabba were widely condemned by a number of Test greats. Michael Vaughan, Mark Taylor and Michael Clarke all put Smith under the microscope, suggesting his defensive field on day five was a way to hedge his bets. In their eyes, Smith was hoping Pakistan would make a mistake and lose, when he really should have been more aggressive in pushing for a win. Vaughan was the most stringent, describing Smith’s tactics as “nothing short of ridiculous” on Twitter. While Border understood the criticism, he empathised with Smith, who is only in the infancy of his captaincy.

“He’s new to it so he’s learning all of the time,” Border told Inside Cricket. I think he erred on the last morning by not attacking straight away. Hundred runs in the bank, two wickets to get, they probably could have attacked a little more in the first 20 minutes or so just to see how the game unfolded from there.

“But apart from that, I thought it was an excellent game of cricket.” Ultimately, Australia walked away with the win. That of itself was significant, Border said, given Pakistan were the number one ranked Test team in August.