London, Aug 15 (IANS) Premier Australia batter Steve Smith has warned that England’s batters face a stern test in this year’s Ashes, with challenging conditions in the country and a seasoned Aussie bowling attack set to pose tough questions to them.

The five-Test Ashes series starts in Perth on November 21 and England, with their ultra-attacking Bazball approach, have been primed to do well in Australia. England’s recent Test assignment saw them settle for a 2-2 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series draw against India at home.

“I’ve watched a lot of the series against India and I think it was one of the best Test series I’ve seen for a long time. The cricket that was played by both teams was outstanding. So, I think England have a good side at the moment. They’re obviously playing a really aggressive brand of cricket, and I think coming down to Australia, particularly for their batters, it’s going to be a big challenge.

“I think the wickets in the last three or four years have been really tricky. We’ve obviously got a very experienced bowling lineup with guys that have played for a long period of time and been extremely successful. So I’m looking forward to the summer.

“I think it’s going to be a great series. I know that last Ashes was during covid-19 and the Barmy Army and stuff couldn’t come down. So the atmosphere is going to be entirely different. We love playing in front of big crowds and hostile crowds on both sides. So it’s going to be good fun,” said Smith to Sky Sports’, on the sidelines of turning out for Welsh Fire in The Hundred.

In England’s batting department, Joe Root has been widely considered pivotal to the side’s chances of regaining the Ashes, though he’s yet to score a Test century in Australia. Root has 13,543 Test runs and is just 2,378 runs away from top-ranked Sachin Tendulkar. Smith praised Root’s ability to convert fifties into big hundreds over the past two years.

“I think not just in that series, the last probably two years he’s just been incredible. His ability to make big scores, go from 50 to 100, which was probably one thing that he got caught in that 50 to 100 spot for quite a while. Now he’s just making it count and going on and making huge scores. So, I think he hasn’t scored a 100 in Australia.

“I think that’s been talked about quite a lot. I’m sure that’s something that he wants to tick off his bucket list as well. So, like I said, it’s going to be tricky for batting, particularly for top order batters. From an Australian point of view, hopefully he doesn’t get 100 this summer, but I know that he’ll be working hard towards it.”

Smith further stressed that Australia’s focus will remain on letting their skills do the job of winning them the series against England.

“I think the way we’ve played our cricket the last while is just trying to let our skills do the talking. We’ve played really good cricket in the last four years in Test cricket, making two World Test Championship finals. So, we’re doing a lot of things right. For us, it’s just letting our skills take over. We know the Australian conditions well, obviously. Hopefully our skills are better than England’s.”

Asked if there was any England quick he feared facing, Smith denied any such talk. “No, I mean, I think you want the best players playing all the time. As a player, you like coming up against the best and competing against the best.

“So, no fears here. Just looking forward to what’s going to be a cool series, particularly with two really good fast bowling attacks going at it. Plenty of good batters on both sides, and it’s going to be a wonderful series.

–IANS

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