Jaded Smith ends frustrating tournament with tribute to Stokes
Steve Smith refused to lay any blame anywhere but at the feet of his own players, after Australia were knocked out of the ICC Champions Trophy in the group stages.
Two washouts meant that the fancied Australians struggled to gather any momentum, at which point a rampant England bettered them in front of a delighted Edgbaston crowd.
Australia’s innings was cruising at 160-2 after 27 overs, but was curtailed by Mark Wood and Adil Rashid to end at 277-9.
In reply, Australia had England rocking at 35-3, but a belting century from Ben Stokes and 87 from captain Eoin Morgan swung the match decisively. Rain ended things prematurely, but at 240-4 England were well ahead on Duckworth-Lewis and was cruising to a win.
“I thought we let ourselves down a little bit today,” said Smith. “We got ourselves in a pretty good position early with the bat, probably 2 for 150, or wherever we were there. We kept losing wickets through the middle, and someone in the top four probably needed to go on and make a hundred. We weren't able to do that. We lost 5 for 15 at one point as well, which you can't afford to do against an opposition like England.
“I thought we started reasonably well with the ball. To get three early wickets was quite crucial, and then it seemed like there was a bit of a momentum shift after that rain delay. You know, Stokesy and Morgy came out and played very positively. We were off a bit with the way we were bowling. We gave them a lot of freebies, but they did play exceptionally well.”
Smith refused to accept that tiredness from his players or a lack of match time due to rained-off matches was a factor.
“I didn't get that feeling. That's no excuse anyway. When you're playing in a big tournament for your country, you need to step up and get the job done.
“You say that we only had one hit, but that should be good enough for the players that we've got on our team. You know, we've got some good players in our line-up. We just weren't able to get those partnerships together today and get ourselves a score up over 300.
“It was actually quite difficult early on. England probably bowled a fraction short with the newer ball, and when they got it up there, it was hard work. So that was something that we wanted to learn from when we bowled, and we did that at the start. We got it up there and got the ball to nip about a bit. And then we were just off with our execution.”
It wasn’t the first close-up look that Smith has had of Stokes, who blasted 13 fours and two sixes, after the Australian captained the all-rounder in this year’s IPL. This time, he didn’t enjoy watching on from the other side.
“He’s a fantastic player, and he's getting better and better as well, I think. So he contributes in every aspect of the game, whether it's bowling, out in the field, taking great catches, or with the bat now. He played a fantastic innings today, really took the game on, and was hard to stop.
“He's an incredibly strong lad and hits the ball very hard. So those are the kind of things you want in white-ball cricket. I think he's probably developed some smarts and, you know, timing of his innings and things like that. I'm sure the more he plays, the better he'll get at that as well. He's certainly a quality player, and he's in exceptional form at the moment.”
Despite denying the effects of fatigue, Smith said he was looking forward to some time off.
“A bit of a break for me now and a few of the guys, I think. It has been a long stint. We've been gone for a while. So, yeah, a little bit of a break and then preparing for the Test series in Bangladesh.”
Let’s hope for his sake it’s not raining back home.