Smith’s almost foolproof fix for glaring problem
Steve Smith has offered an insight into Australia’s plan to counter the English “Bazball’ tactics in the second Ashes Test at the Gabba.
Source: Cricket.com.au
Veteran Aussie batter Steve Smith has a foolproof plan to use black eye strips for relief from the bright Gabba floodlights – he just needs to remember to wear them the right way up.
The star Australian has channelled West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul since arriving in Brisbane for the day-night Ashes Test, wearing two strips of tape under his eyes.
Chanderpaul became famous for wearing black eye tape during his career to combat glare.
Smith’s look is also reminiscent of the eye black worn by NFL and baseball players in the US, where he lives these days.
Smith is sensitive to light, and even asked broadcast crews if they could turn their lights down for Wednesday’s press conference ahead of the day-night Test beginning on Thursday.
The 36-year-old said the eye strips would help reduce the glare from the Gabba floodlights by 65 per cent and help him see the pink ball better.
That is, if he wears them the right way.
“I actually messaged Shivnarine Chanderpaul and asked him what his thoughts were, whether he wore the chalk or the strips [under his eyes],” Smith said.
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“He said the strips, and it blocks out 65 per cent of the glare. He also said, ‘I have seen photos and you are wearing it the wrong way’.
“Yesterday I put them on the right way and I agree with him. I certainly think it stops the glare, and I will be wearing them.”
Smith has played 13 day-night Test matches – the equal second-most of any player in world cricket – and has become used to making adjustments for the conditions.
“The [pink] ball reacts differently to a red one. It can change quickly and can start moving randomly,” he said.
“When it does shift on you and the ball starts doing something different, you have got to come up with plans to counter that.
“It is about being one step ahead.”
Facing Bazball
With England’s Bazball tactics to go on trial at the Gabba, Smith defined the Aussie approach to Test cricket the hosts are hoping to ride to a 2-0 Ashes series lead.
On a warm Wednesday in Brisbane, Smith was asked to outline the Australian way of playing Test cricket ahead of the day-night match.
Without flinching, he had a simple response – one that flies squarely in the face of England’s positive, if contrived, Bazball brand.
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“Adapting to conditions and what’s in front of us, playing the game in real time [is the Australian way],” Smith said.
“I think that’s one thing this team’s done really well for a period of time, being able to sum up the conditions, play what’s in front of us in live time.”
That adapt-or-perish mindset appeared integral to Australia’s eight-wicket defeat of England in the Perth series opener.
When a back injury sidelined Usman Khawaja, middle-order aggressor Travis Head was sent out to open as his side chased second-innings runs on a tricky deck.
As recently as the tour of Sri Lanka in February, Head had said he doubted he’d ever open the batting at Test level in home conditions.
But heeding the call in the unfamiliar role, he smacked the rapid-fire century that ultimately won Australia the game and sealed its 1-0 Ashes lead.
Adaptability has been the name of the game in the lead-up to the second Test, too: From needing to replace Khawaja in the XI two days before the toss, to Smith’s strips of eye tape.
England, in a way, will take the opposite approach into the Gabba as it hopes to level the Ashes. The tourists’ aggression with the bat backfired in the second innings in Perth as they lost 5-23 in a day-two collapse.
Their Bazball philosophy is built on remaining proactive at all costs, and captain Ben Stokes reiterated his faith in that mindset on Wednesday.
“Mindset is everything when it comes to sport in general,” he said.
“I have got complete trust in the players we select to go out there with the mentality of being that person who is going to influence the game the right way for us.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, but you’ve heard from a couple of us that we addressed last week and assessed certain moments in that game and definitely take some lessons.
“It is a chance for us this week to do what we want to do and win the Ashes.”
-with AAP
