I’d like to say I know how to get Smith out … but he’s a batting freak!
If I knew how to get Steve Smith out, I’m not sure I would tell england because I want an Australia victory at the SCG — but I don’t think I could help anyway.
The thing with Smith — and this is something I don’t think I’ve seen in any other batsman — is that he adapts not only his game but also his technique to different conditions and circumstances. And he does this while remaining just as effective.
You come up with a bowling plan based on how you have seen him bat before, but all of a sudden he will change his technique, grip or stance and he has nullified what the opposition are trying to do.
In that respect the Australia captain is unique, a freak, one of a kind. we have seen england’s bowlers aiming at the stumps — because Smith walks across them — to try to bring lbw and bowled into play with a stronger leg-side field.
But that doesn’t work because he never seems to miss a ball. He just opens his stance up a little to get his pad away and then plays straight. And we have seen them bowling wide of off-stump with a strong off- side field to try to frustrate Smith because he loves playing through the leg-side.
england have bowled Ok but they have tended to be a little short in their opening spells and they just haven’t been able to sustain enough pressure to force Smith to make a mistake.
The england bowlers will tell you the Australia captain is not the same against the moving ball but that’s true of every Test batsman.
Maybe sideways movement evens things up a bit, like we saw at Adelaide, but when it’s flat it is almost too easy for Smith. And he just loves batting. He appears to have limitless patience and concentration and never gets bored at the crease. He just has a love and passion for scoring runs.
I’d like to tell you I would have a plan if I was still bowling and would be confident of getting him out, but all you can really do is go back to basics.
That means doing what I tried to do through have out my career and attack the top of off stump — as you would do to mere mortal batsmen — and we have seen Smith chop on twice in this series with false strokes.
It certainly needed bats manerror to help the bowlers in the fourth Test because that MCG pitch was disappointing. There was just nothing in it for the fast bowlers and we had to wait for batsmen to get themselves out.
So the 5-0 whitewash has gone, but england are not a bad team and I did think their senior players would turn up sooner or later.
Stuart Broad was under pressure before the game but he bowled a fuller length, had a bit more pace and was a bit more attacking. It seemed like he had a little more energy. And Alastair Cook is just a quality player. I always thought a big innings wasn’t far away for him and you have to give credit to england with the way they had the better of the draw until those last two sessions. I know some people have said their improvement has only come now the series has gone — and there is truth in that — but you still to go out there and do the business. Broad and Cook stepped up in that game.
Australians would have liked another whitewash and I certainly would have done because I’m always happy to predict it — but I like to be adaptable like the players so my prediction now is 4-0!
Sydney will have a better pitch than Melbourne. It’s not a drop-in for starters and I think it will do a bit early on the first day.
I hope they leave a bit of grass on it to help the quicks to start with and I think it might turn as the game goes on.
This is a very significant game for me because it will be the 10th year that the McGrath foundation has been involved with the Sydney Test and it’s amazing how quickly time goes.
The SCG is awash with pink on the third day and it has been re-named Jane McGrath Day now in honour of my late wife.
There will be lots of things happening and at some point I will take five to 10 minutes out of my day just to soak it all up and take in the occasion.
It is a great legacy for my two older children, James and Holly, to see what their mum has created and our main objectives are to raise awareness of breast cancer in younger women and funds to place breast care nurses in communities across Australia.
At the moment we have 119 nurses employed and they’ve supported more than 60,000 families going through cancer, so hitting those numbers just blows me away. The support through the Sydney Test is amazing.
we are about 78 nurses shy of covering the whole country now and if we can raise 1.3 million Australian dollars from this final Test, that will add another 10 nurses full-time for a 12-month period. It’s achievable because of the way we’ve been growing and I am very proud.
It’s going to be a special game.
He has a unique ability to tailor his technique to any situation