‘New ball might be the best time to bat’ – Smith

Australia captain Steven Smith singled out a good opening partnership as the key to Australia’s success in the Caribbean ahead of their tri-series opener against West Indies on Sunday.

Unlike the faster-paced pitches at home, the surfaces in the Caribbean are expected to become slower as the innings progresses, and how Australia handle the new ball could well determine how far they go in the tournament. The Providence Stadium in Guyana, the venue for the match, stayed true to its reputation during West Indies’ four-wicket triumph over South Africa on Friday, with both sides finding run-scoring difficult.

“My thoughts before yesterday’s game was that it wasn’t going to be a high-scoring game,” Smith said on the eve of the match. “It’s about being smart, particularly through the middle overs against the spinners, making sure we’re able to rotate the strike, and if we get a bad ball, put it away. Whereas in Australia, the bounce is consistent, the ball doesn’t spin a great deal, so you can hit through the line and take the game on a little bit more.

“I don’t think you need to tell Davey (David) Warner or Aaron Finch how to play too much. I think that’s just their natural instinct, to play their shots, which hopefully will get us into a good position. It looks as though it might be one of those wickets where the new ball is the easiest time to bat and then the wicket slows down, making it harder to score. If we try and make the most of those first six to ten overs, hopefully we can hold ourselves in good stead for the rest of the innings.”

Smith’s observations were along the lines of how South Africa’s innings panned out. South Africa made a solid start after electing to bat and were 52 for 1 in the 10th over. By the time AB de Villiers fell in the 31st over, they were scoring at less than 4.5 runs an over. …

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