Steve Smith believes England may have picked the wrong bowlers for the Ashes, suggesting Australian wickets will be better suited to seam and swing than an all-out pace attack.
The tourists are heavily relying on speed merchants led by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood for the five-Test showdown, with Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue also in the squad. Almost all of them can deliver rockets in excess of 145 kph (90 mph), but none are seen as traditional seamers.
Smith, who will captain Australia at the first Test at Perth next week with Pat Cummins injured, said the wickets could better suit bowlers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Both those prolific stalwarts, who excelled with swing and seam, are now retired. England left out Chris Woakes, a bowler in a similar vein.
Smith’s assessment came after playing Sheffield Shield matches at the Gabba in Brisbane and Sydney Cricket Ground, where he was in fine touch with the bat “It’s different on the wickets now, I think,” Smith told Australian media late Wednesday after hitting 57 and 56 not out against Victoria to go with his 118 against Queensland.
“I mean, those sort of nibblers (seamers) can be quite tricky. So they might have got things the wrong way around, if that makes sense, in terms of the pace, from previous years.
“Obviously, they’ve got those guys at their disposal now. They probably weren’t fit and ready, or old enough, maybe, a few years back.
“Sometimes the slower guys are almost harder to play on those wickets where you have to make the pace, but yeah, we’ll wait and see, won’t we?” Smith shapes as a pivotal player for Australia, and has hit the ground running after a six-week break where he did not pick up a bat.
“It was nice to just be able to spend some time in the middle, get some rhythm and feel in a good place,” he said of his early season form. The first Test gets under way in Perth on November 21 before a day-night clash in Brisbane, with both wickets expected to be quick and bouncy. The series then moves to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.