Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting reckons Steve Smith will bounce back quickly and he will find solutions if there will be problems.
Smith hasn’t been at his absolute best in the recent past and he will need to turn the tables. The talisman has been averaging around 36 since the 2019 Ashes.
The right-hander didn’t have the best of Ashes 2021-22 as he could only muster 244 runs in five Test matches at an average of 30.50. In fact, Smith’s average has fallen down below 60 for the first time in the last couple of years.
Meanwhile, it is well known that Smith is a quality batter and he will bounce back stronger in the upcoming matches. The linchpin hasn’t been able to convert his starts into substantial scores and he will look to turn the tables.
“The standards that he’d set himself for so long, for that three – or four-year period where he took batting to another level, to try and maintain that for four or five or six years no-one’s ever done it, and no-one will probably ever do it,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
“You’re going to have your ups and downs and if he’s averaging (in the thirties) in Australia on the back of a couple of lean years, most other batsmen would take that.”
Ponting added that Smith will look back at his game despite Australia convincingly winning by 4-0. The former captain is confident that Smith will find answers to his problems.
“I know what he’s like and he will look back at this even though Australia has won the series… he’ll look back at his own game and break it down and ask himself those questions as to why things haven’t worked out as much as he would have liked.
“He will come up with the right answers because the best players are the best problem solvers, and if he has got a problem… then he’ll work it out pretty quickly.”
“The other interesting dynamic with (Smith) is the Marnus factor and even other guys that have come in and have dominated like he did,” said Ponting.
“There are other guys that are helping out now. “There are lots of things that we can probably think about and ask questions about, but it’s not going to be long (before Smith bounces back).”
Australia will next face New Zealand in three-match ODI series.
