In the past, Smith has had his issues with the short deliveries be it against Archer in England at the Ashes or be it against the kiwi pacer Neil Wagner. The Australian assistant coach Andrew McDonald feels different about this as he went on record to say that everyone is aware of Smith’s woes in the past against the shot deliveries and it is no secret that any team will try to target this weakness of the No. 1 batsman in the tests.
“I think they’ve used it before and as I’ve said he’s done well before so I’m suggesting that plan hasn’t necessarily worked to its full effect. I know in the Test match he had that moment with Archer where it got him but in terms of coming back off that he was able to score runs. Even in one-day cricket, he was able to score and in T20 cricket he’s been able to score runs with that plan being adopted by opponents. I don’t necessarily see it as a weakness but they can keep approaching that way if they want.”
All this talks about his weakness against the short ball is due to the blow he suffered in England last year at the Ashes. Archer bowled a brutal bouncer that knocked him out and had to be eventually replaced in the same test by the use of first-ever concussion substitution Marnus Labuschagne. He again faced issues against the New Zealand pacer Neil Wagner where he continuously bowled him short balls outside leg stump and got him out at the short leg for six times in the series played last year.
Speaking about the form of their limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, Andrew McDonald didn’t deny that the captain was a bit out of touch. But it is of no concern as the players have trained for the past two weeks after concluding their IPL working on the issues they were facing during the tournament.
The ODI series will begin from 27th November, which will be followed by the T20I’s and finally going to the test series which will start from the 17th December at the Adelaide which will be a day/night test.
