“Let ourselves down” – Smith won’t blame the rain
Two matches ruined by rain, and then to run into a rampant Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan in the next – Australia could be pardoned if it felt unlucky about its ICC Champions Trophy 2017 campaign that has ended prematurely, but Steven Smith was offering no excuses.
Following the 40-run loss (by DLS Method) to England at Edgbaston on Saturday (June 10), Smith said Australia’s batting let the team down by not capitalising on strong positions. Australia was 136 for 1 at one stage but managed only 277 for 6 at the end of 50 overs, despite three batsmen making half-centuries.
“I thought we let ourselves down a little bit today,” said Smith. “We got ourselves in a pretty good position early with the bat, but we kept losing wickets through the middle. 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.”
Before the game, Australia had batted only 25 overs in the two games combined. None below No. 4 had got a hit, but Smith said that was not a factor. “We only had one hit, but that should be good enough for the players that we've got on our team,” he said. “We've got some good players in our lineup. We just weren't able to get those partnerships together today and get ourselves a score up over 300.”
Despite that, Australia had England in early trouble at 35 for 3 in six overs when rain stopped play for 42 minutes, and then it all went downhill. Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan combined for a 159-run stand for the fourth wicket, taking the game away in quick time.
Smith praised the England duo, but was critical of his bowlers for not executing well. “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,” he said. “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.
“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 quite 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. You can't be off when you're bowling to quality players like that. It was a must-win game for us. We just didn't turn up the way I would have liked us to after the break.”
Smith also refused to put the performance down to Australia’s hectic schedule, saying the players didn’t feel drained out by constant cricket. “I didn't get that feeling,” he asserted. “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. We weren't able to do that on this occasion, unfortunately. We had some frustrating games throughout and just haven't been able to find any momentum, I guess. And today, yeah, it was disappointing.”