Cricket Australia faces struggle to keep biggest stars fresh and firing, writes Ian Chappell

IT’S hard to understand how Steve Smith and Australia went from nigh unbeatable in the Ashes to struggle street in the ODIs. Ian Chappell explores the struggle facing Smith and CA, keeping Australia’s best fresh and firing.

Steve Smith struggled in the one-day international series against England.

IT’S hard to understand how Steve Smith — playing against the same team — could so quickly decline from a Bradmanesque run of form in the Test series to a run drought in the ODI tournament.

In the same vein it was impossible to predict an Australian side that seemed impregnable in the Ashes series, could be so ineffective in the ODIs.

Firstly, let’s explore the Smith conundrum. His failure to produce during the ODI series could simply be his concentration supply had been exhausted in the five Test series.

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Overall he batted for longer than a full Test match and faced an incredible 1416 balls, the equivalent of more than two and a half days worth of overs.

Even someone as strong-minded and iron-willed as Smith, is entitled to a let down after such a marathon performance.

However, that doesn’t explain how a good player of spin bowling, who looked like he owned Moeen Ali during the Test series, could be dismissed four times out of five by tweakers in the ODI tournament.

David Warner after being dismissed.

Steve Smith after being dismissed.

Surprisingly, he hardly used his feet to the spinners in the ODI series. This could have been due to the leg-spinner Adil Rashid turning away from the bat or more likely, the sign of a weary mind.

Smith’s strike rate of just under 70 in the ODI series could also indicate a man who was drained of the positive thought required to take charge of an attack.

The final clue to his mental state could be the speed with which he vacated the number three spot in the ODI order. After just two innings he demoted himself to four on the basis that the team needed an experienced player to anchor the middle-order.

A captain in prime batting form, fresh and ready for the next big challenge would have been more likely to decide that the cure for his team’s ailments was a big innings from number three. That way the pressure on the middle and lower order would have been drastically reduced.

If Smith was mentally spent it could be argued that he would have benefited from a short rest during the ODI series. This is where the relationship between players and administrators has more clashes than the cymbals in a symphony orchestra.

Firstly, Cricket Australia has a duty to the public to put the best team on the field and this especially applies to the captain. Secondly, the players would be hypocrites to seek a rest when they desperately want to play in the richly rewarding IPL tournament.

Steve Smith celebrates a century against England in Melbourne.

Both Smith and vice-captain David Warner were picked up by IPL teams for in excess of A$2 million. Consequently it’s no wonder the players desire an IPL contract and the irony is that eventually it befalls CA to rest their players.

As a result, Smith will miss the entire triangular T20 series and Warner, who looked equally in need of a rest, has taken over the captaincy. This means Smith should be well rested for the challenging Test series against South Africa but the risk is Warner will be jaded.

It’s not realistic to expect Warner to knock back the opportunity to captain Australia. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that Australia’s two premier batsmen will need to be at their best against a strong South African attack.

Any fears that the poor ODI form will adversely affect the Test side’s confidence are unwarranted. The failure of the ODI team to combat a surprisingly combative England side was mainly the batsmen’s inability to capitalise on Aaron Finch’s exceptionally good form early in the series.

Too often the batting was stifled by the advent of Ali’s economical off-spin, which allowed Rashid to reap wickets at the other end. With Smith and Warner regularly failing, the shortcomings of Australia’s batting were exposed.

Steve Smith in action against England at Sydney Cricket Ground.

However, there’s no need for panic selections. Australia, when Smith and Warner are fully rested and with a strong pace attack, is realistically only one specialist batsman and a wicket-taking spinner away from being a highly competitive ODI side. Another World Cup win in 2019 is not beyond that combination.

Meanwhile, the Test side — especially the batsmen — will face a strong challenge in South Africa, as their pace attack is the equal of Australia’s.

In the last Test against India, South Africa reverted to type and relied on an unbalanced attack with five pace men. If they’ve followed Australia’s recent history and taken a particular interest in the ODI series with England, they’ll include their talented left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj in the Test side.

Good left-arm spinners have troubled Australia and Smith’s failures against spin in the ODI series are worth exploring.

However, South Africa should be warned, it’ll be a rested Smith for the Test series, not the jaded player we witnessed struggle through the one day tournament.

Originally published as Cricket Australia faces struggle to keep biggest stars fresh and firing, writes Ian Chappell