Steve Smith believes Australia must find their killer instinct if they’re to bounce back in Hobart
AUSTRALIAN captain Steve Smith has implored his men rediscover their killer instinct as they strive to rebound from the first Test loss against South Africa at the WACA.
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AUSTRALIAN captain Steve Smith has implored his men rediscover their killer instinct as they strive to rebound from the first Test loss at the WACA.
The hosts were in complete control after rolling the Proteas for 242 and racing to 0-158 early on day two before capitulating and eventually suffering a 177 run loss.
Once the masters at ramming home the advantage when they held the high ground - especially on home soil - Australia has continually let strong positions slip recently, a fact not lost on Smith.
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“We’re finding ways to get ourselves in positions where we should be able to drive the game, but we’re not executing well enough in those moments to take the game away from the opposition,” he said ahead of the second Test starting in Hobart today.
“We’re getting in those positions, which is a positive, but we need to find a way to make sure we really nail a team when we get on top of them.
“We’re letting oppositions back into the game too easily. That’s one thing we’ve talked about here, if we get in front in the game, we need to make sure we take the game away from them and don’t let them back in.
“I think that’s something that Australia has done very well in Australia for a long period of time.
“We’ve been able to score big first-innings runs and identify those moments when we can take the game away from an opposition, and we’ve been able to do that.
“We just haven’t been doing it of late, that’s something we’ve got to turn around.”
While the Australians search for a way to keep the momentum when they have it, South African captain Faf du Plessis has hailed the character showed by his troops.
The visitors rebounded to bowl Australia out for 244, giving the hosts a two run lead, before completely turning the tables and amassing 8-540 in the second innings on the back of centuries to Dean Elgar (127) and JP Duminy (141).
“We rely quite heavily on being a resilient team and full of resilient players and personalities,” du Plessis said.
“Generally resilience is being able to adapt into a position on what the team needs you to do, rather than what you yourself as a player want to do.
“It is a great asset to have in a cricket team, because in Test cricket you are going to be under pressure, it’s making sure you can suck it in, absorb it and get through the other side.
“If you want to win Test matches you are going to get small opportunities in the game when it is 50-50 and either as a team you take that pressure and get through that moment and play well to get on top again, or you don’t and you fall behind.
“Luckily for us in the previous Test match we could do that a little more often than they did.”
Originally published as Steve Smith believes Australia must find their killer instinct if they’re to bounce back in Hobart
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