Steve Smith vows to rectify Australia’s ‘ugly’ reputation with lift in behavioural standards
STEVE Smith has vowed to pull his players into line in South Africa as the captain responded to stinging criticism of Australia’s on-field reputation and behaviour in the Durban Test.
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STEVE Smith has vowed to pull his players into line as the captain responded to stinging criticism of Australia’s on-field reputation.
Victory in the second Test starting Friday will give Australia a stranglehold in the series but Smith concedes his side let their behavioural standards slip last week in Durban and is determined to try and rectify the perception of his team as ‘ugly Aussies’.
Cricket Australia’s board meet on Friday and the fallout from the regrettable actions of the last Test as well as debate regarding the overall image of the team is sure to be a talking point.
Former Test captain Ian Chappell declared Smith should have been held accountable by the ICC for the actions of David Warner and his players in the first Test, while Adam Gilchrist implored the current team to realise their penchant for aggressive cricket doesn’t necessarily translate well to fans at home.
Smith defended the conduct of his side by pointing to the fact Australia has only had three code of conduct charges against them compared to South Africa’s seven since the new demerit system was introduced.
However, the skipper said Australia did cross the line in Durban and revealed he has sat down his team to reiterate what is acceptable.
“I think we’ll be able to get our troops in order,” said Smith, who was due to meet South African counterpart Faf du Plessis for peace talks on Thursday night (EDT).
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“I obviously brought the boys together and told them it wasn’t ideal the things that happened last week (and said); ‘Let’s move on from that and focus on our skill.
“Make sure we’re playing them on skill and not letting emotions get in the way of what we’re trying to achieve.’
“As captain you take responsibility for your team and what’s going on, so I do take responsibility for that.
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“Whether I could have done anything to change the events of what happened in the last Test, I’m not sure. But I do take responsibility.”
Smith raised his disappointment with the fact South Africa have failed to put their hand up for what Quinton de Kock said to Warner in the now infamous stairwell incident.
But after a planned meeting with du Plessis and match referee Jeff Crowe, Smith hopes his side can put the whole drama behind them and focus on going 2-0 up in the four-match series.
There has been little sympathy for the Australians on social media or from several former greats.
Overall though, Smith feels his team are harshly judged for the way they carry themselves on the field.
“Obviously this (last) game hasn’t been great for us – the things that went on,” he said.
“But in the last two years I think we’re the team with the least indiscretions for code of conduct or anything.
“We’ve played the game in a pretty good way. It’s the Australian way to try to play the game hard, aggressively and stay within the boundaries.
“This week we probably went outside those boundaries on a couple of occasions and that’s not what we’re about, but we’re going to continue to play good, hard, aggressive cricket.”
South Africa coach Ottis Gibson has expressed his frustration at his belief that Australia are sole arbitrators of where “the line” is in cricket.
The basis of South Africa’s defence of de Kock was that his comments about Warner’s wife were no more personal than other sledges on the field.
However, Smith denied he needed to have a conversation with rival skipper du Plessis about what constitutes personal abuse.
“I think you know when you say something personal about someone,” he said.
“I think it’s reasonably obvious and what Quinton said to Davey was certainly personal.
“There’s no doubt about that.
“I’m pleased with Davey that he stuck his hand up, said he made a mistake and that he could have handled things better.
“He accepted his charge and we’ll move on from that.
“… They feel they’ve done nothing wrong so I’m not entirely sure about that.”