England have not won an Ashes series in Australia since the 2010-11 tour.
Steve Smith feels the upcoming Ashes series will be exciting and tough, especially for England batters. He believes England have started to play smarter cricket in recent times.
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Speaking to BBC’s Test Match Special, Smith said that while England are doing well at home, playing in Australia will be a very different and difficult challenge.
England have changed their style under new leadership of Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. Earlier they focused more on attacking, but now they are adjusting their approach based on the match situation. In the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford, they scored at almost five runs per over and ended the day at 2 for 225 in reply to India’s first innings total of 358.
In the previous Test at Lord’s, they slowed things down and batted more carefully. They scored just over three runs per over in both innings and won that game by 22 runs, which gave them a 2-1 lead in the series.
In the first two Tests at Leeds and Birmingham, England scored at a rate between four and five runs per over. This shows they are now flexible and can change their game plan according to the conditions. Smith and the Australian team have taken note of this shift.
“They have started to play a little bit differently in the last couple of weeks in terms of playing the situation, as opposed to going out and trying to be the entertainers that they said they wanted to be,” Smith said.
“They are actually trying to win the games now which is perhaps different to what was said in their comments previously,” he added.
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The real challenge for England will be in Australia. The pitches there have more pace and bounce, and the conditions are not as batter friendly as they are at home. Smith pointed out that it will not be easy for England batters to succeed there.
England have not won an Ashes series in Australia since the 2010-11 tour. When they last toured in the 2021-22 series, they were beaten 4-0 by Australia. With the next Ashes starting on November 21, the challenge for England will be to prove they can win in much tougher conditions.
“The wickets in Australia have been very tricky for batters. It is going to be a good challenge for them,” he further added.
This will be the England’s first Ashes series in Australia under the leadership of Ben Stokes.
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