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England batters are making merry on "pretty flat" pitches at home but the Ashes series later this year will throw an altogether different challenge when Ben Stokes-led side visits Australia, warns batting stalwart Steve Smith. The ease of batting in the ongoing India-England has become a topic of debate and Smith believes the British batters shouldn't get too used to batting-friendly pitches. The two teams have managed to score more than 500 runs in an innings at least once and have consistently put on board runs in excess of 400. "Their (England) batters are going to be challenged a little bit differently to the wickets they have had over in England for a while, which have looked pretty flat and good for batting," Smith was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "The wickets in Australia in the last three or four years have been very tricky for top order batters. It is going to be a good challenge for them. But it's going to be a wonderful series." As part of preparation for the Ashes, S
Steve Smith said at one stage his Australian side thought England would score 400 runs on a flat track here but his bowlers pulled the team back to a "chaseable" target of 352, ultimately winning their high-scoring Champions Trophy match by five wickets on Saturday. Australia's five-wicket win was the highest-ever chase by any team at an ICC white-ball tournament, the previous best being Pakistan's 345 against Sri Lanka at the 2023 men's World Cup. "We thought 350 was chaseable. Looked like they (England) would get 400 but we trusted each other's skills, took pace off at the right times, hit hard lengths, squeezed and controlled the back end," Smith said at the post-match presentation. "Marnus bowled nicely too and took a few wickets. The two 'keepers (Alex Carey and Josh Inglis) have been batting beautifully, (they are) in great form," said the skipper who opted to bowl after winning the toss. Inglis was the main architect of the five-wicket win as he played the innings of his lif
The rampaging Indian team aside, a Pink-ball Test brings with it its own set of challenges, but Australian batter Steve Smith is "focussed" on taking them all head on in the game beginning here on Friday. Australia will enter the day/night match -- second of the five-match series -- trailing, following a heavy defeat in the opener at Perth. Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, the two batting mainstays of the Australian team, were dismissed cheaply for low scores in the first Test, which Australia lost by 295 runs. "Pink ball, it can be challenging at different times of the day or night depending on where you bat and the situation of the game and the ball and all those kind of things," Smith was quoted as saying in a Star Sports video. "So just being really switched on. The pink ball can be a little bit unpredictable at times. So yeah, just being really focussed," he added. Australia skipper Pat Cummins also spoke on the challenges of playing a Pink-ball Test, but felt the basics remain