Australia’s Steve Smith has vowed to be a more aggressive captain if he is appointed to lead the side as expected following a disastrous Ashes campaign which prompted Michael Clarke’s retirement.
Joe Root is on the up too in the Batting Rankings, climbing to 3rd. Steve Smith remains 1st. #ENGvAUS #Ashes pic.twitter.com/83vETwG52z
The 26-year-old, in line to take over after Clarke’s final Test at The Oval later this month, has promised to be less defensive than he was while captaining against India at home earlier this year.
“I think the two games that we drew I could probably be a bit more aggressive there and give ourselves more of a chance to bowl the opposition out,” Smith told The Australian.
“But in regards to my captaincy I think it’ll be pretty similar.” Smith skippered Australia in Tests against India during the last home season when Clarke was sidelined with a hamstring injury, and made centuries in all three Tests where he was skipper.
“Every game I’ve captained so far I’ve scored a hundred. I’d like that… to keep going, hopefully it does,” he said. “If I am named the captain I would like to lead from the front with my performances, for sure.”
Smith said one of the lessons of this miserable Ashes tour, in which Australia were all out for only 60 runs in their first innings at Trent Bridge, was patience.
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“They make you earn your runs… all of their bowlers swing the ball both ways,” Smith said. “The learnings are just about trying to get yourself in. Be really patient at the start of your innings.
“In Australia we’re taught to play out in front a little bit more. You have to really wait for the ball here in England.”
Clarke, 34, announced he was retiring after England completed a crushing innings and 78-run victory on Saturday to take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
Rumblings about his captaincy continued yesterday, with former Australia coach John Buchanan saying the culture of the team’s ‘Baggy Green’ cap suffered under the prolific batsman.
“Players like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and others really tried to make the ‘Baggy Green’ culture something special, but I could sense it was under threat and under Michael’s captaincy I can sense it has disappeared a bit and that disappointed me,” he said. “I can remember guys like Hayden and (Justin) Langer sitting him down in a corner and trying to get him to understand what we were trying to achieve.
In a pre Ashes interview: “I don’t think they will come close to us to be honest”. Did Steve Smith mean England were going to win 4-1?
— Mark Pougatch (@markpougatch) August 7, 2015
“There were times when I felt Michael did not understand or did not want to understand.”
But Ryan Harris, who was forced into retirement by a chronic knee injury just before this summer’s series against England, dismissed Buchanan’s views and described Clarke as one of the best captains he has ever had.
“What John’s got to probably realise is that when he had Michael Clarke he was 21, 22, 23 years old,” Harris said. “Much has changed since, and Harris added: “You’re allowed to mature over life – that’s what I’ve done, and that’s what Michael Clarke has done.
“To hear John Buchanan come out and say that, an ex-coach, was very, very disappointing…to bash a guy after he’s retired. “It’s just ridiculous – his life was the Baggy Green.”
