"It was a pretty ordinary batting display really apart from Heady, who batted really well. The rest of us probably need to have a good, hard look at ourselves"
Monday 5 February 2018 09:55, UK
Steve Smith lamented an "ordinary" Australia batting display despite his side claiming a three-wicket win over England in Adelaide.
The hosts claimed their first win of the series as they bowled England out for 196, having had Eoin Morgan's side 8-5 early on, and knocked off the runs with 13 overs to spare.
Travis Head made 96 but Smith was critical of the rest of his batsmen as Australia lost seven wickets and kept England, defending an extremely modest total, in the game for long periods.
"It's nice to get over the line in the end, it was a pretty ordinary batting display really apart from Heady, who batted really well," Smith said.
"The rest of us probably need to have a good, hard look at ourselves and start scoring some more runs and help this team win some games."
The Australia skipper was altogether more complimentary of his opening bowlers, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins who took a combined seven wickets, and the platform they gave the team from which to build.
"Having England 8-5 happened pretty quickly and Cummins and Hazlewood started really well," he added. "It's an area we have been working on as our starts haven't been as good as they could have been for a while now."
Cummins was named man of the match for his 4-24 but was quick to heap praise on Hazlewood.
"He is just about the best bowler in the world in ODIs," the Aussie quick said. "He lands it on the dime every ball with a bit of movement, you know what you're going to get from him.
"Obviously it was a tough few games to start the series so it was good to start off well here. I think the wicket here has been brilliant the last couple of years, it always feels like we've got some pace and bounce and it swung around a bit early - a great wicket.
"At the start of the summer I was just thinking about getting ready for the Test at the Gabba and not too much else. To have played through all of the games and not worry about my body, have the ball come out well and have had some success is great."
Meanwhile, England captain Morgan admitted that Australia were worthy winners at the Adelaide Oval but praised the fight his team showed in trying to defend an under-par total.
"I thought we fought really well with only 190 on the board, to get Australia seven down I think was an outstanding effort," he said.
"Having five wickets down and not having hit a boundary for the first 12 or 13 overs really emphasised how much there was in the wicket.
"Credit to Australia, I think they bowled really well and didn't really give us anything to hit. They thoroughly deserved to win today.
"[Defending 196] was a tall ask, we didn't make many inroads early but Adil Rashid got us right back in the game.
"Having broken into the middle order a few times in this series we always felt if we got them three or four down and reopened cracks we were in with a chance. We needed something special to make that happen and it didn't."
