Steve Smith rekindles his Lord’s love affair armed with secret spin weapon
Edgbaston hero Steve Smith returned to the nets for the first time since leading Australia to victory in the first Test - but the former captain wasn’t alone at Lord’s.
Australian run machine Steve Smith was back in the nets at the first opportunity at Lord’s, the sight of his Test debut in 2010 and a 2015 Ashes double hundred.
After a week off Smith and David Warner were the only frontline batsmen to attend the Sunday morning optional session in which Ahmed Raza, a left arm spinner from the United Arab Emirates was brought in to bowl.
England have selected left arm spinner Jack Leach for this week’s second Test hoping Smith’s career average of just 34 against that type of bowling helps the home team at least contain the former Australian captain who smashed twin hundreds in the victory at Edgbaston last week.
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That theory has been shot down by plenty who pointed to Smith’s record being affected by turning pitches in the sub continent, where an average of 34 was better than most.
Smith was in and out of various nets for well over an hour at the nursery ground having spent the week in London with his wife Dani following his first Test heroics.
Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan also watched on and after chatting with Smith and Australian coach Justin Langer discovered they share links with Mike Conway, a “mental agility” expert who has done a lot of work with soccer clubs in particular.
“It was nice to find a couple of the boys have that in common with me,” Ryan said.
“(Conway) talks about keeping things simple and when your instincts are taking over that’s when you are probably in your best form.
“It was good to hear Steve and Justin Langer both know Mike Conway really well and how good he is at what he does.”
Warner’s long time batting advisor Trent Woodhill was also on hand at Lord’s and spent time with his former pupil, who made just two and eight at Edgbaston, in the indoor nets.
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His opening partner Cameron Bancroft, who is under pressure after making just 15 runs in his return to Test cricket at Birmingham, didn’t train having turned out in the tour game against Worcestershire last week.
A green wicket greeted the Aussies who all gave it a good look on the way to the practice nets, with expectations a more bowler friendly pitch will be produced for the start of the Test on Wednesday.
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