Steve Smith showed support for the England team led by Ben Stokes as they faced criticism after their early defeat in the Ashes series against Australia. England lost the first three Tests, with Australia taking an unassailable 3-0 lead following their recent victory in the Adelaide Test.
Smith will rejoin the Australian side for the Boxing Day Test and will continue as stand-in captain in place of Pat Cummins after recovering from an inner-ear issue. With Australia having secured the urn, they now aim for a clean sweep in the Ashes. When asked about his feelings towards the scrutinized English team, Smith shared his thoughts.
Having faced his own challenges, including being stripped of the captaincy and receiving a year-long suspension due to the Sandpaper-gate scandal in South Africa, Smith understands the pressures of being in the spotlight and expressed empathy for England’s current circumstances.
“When you’re losing, the spotlight is always on you and things can get spoken about and get blown up pretty heavily. So … I feel for them, in a way. It can be tricky. You’re in a country where you know you can go out and about and enjoy yourselves, and with big breaks, you’ve got to experience the country that you’re in as well. And they had a pretty big break in between,” Smith told reporters at the MCG on Christmas Day.
The conversation has shifted from England’s short preparation for the series to allegations that several team members may have overindulged during their break in Noosa between the Brisbane and Adelaide Tests. Smith stated he has no issue with the team taking a break between matches and sees it as a chance for teams under pressure to reset.
“Sometimes I think you’ve just got to – and I heard a few of the comments – but you have got to get away from the game and try and put it out of your mind and just relax for a little bit too. And I can see that’s the kind of path that they wanted to go down and I think it’s fair enough.”
“I can’t really comment more than that on how they’re feeling or how they’re going about things but, yeah, I certainly believe that when you’ve lost two Test matches, and you’ve got such a long break, sometimes you just need to get away from the game and switch off entirely,” he added.