Veteran Australian batter Steve Smith has said he had never encountered a wicket like the one at the SCG, after falling one run short of reaching 10,000 career runs in the five-match Test series against India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In Australia’s first innings of the fifth Test here, Smith edged a delivery to slip just five runs shy of the landmark. In the second innings, Prasidh Krishna’s delivery rose sharply from short of a length and Smith advanced down the pitch, only to fend it into the gully to be dismissed on 9999 Test runs. “I got chainsawed didn’t I! Pretty nasty delivery actually; back of a length, I thought ‘oh, there’s one to punch through point’ and it just took off,” the former Australian captain told ‘Triple M’ after their six-wicket win on Sunday that gave them the trophy after a decade.
“It wasn’t to be (reaching 10k Test runs), but that’s alright we got the result we were after.
“Absolutely (toughest SCG pitch I’ve played on). By a mile. It was two-paced, up and down, seaming all over the place, swinging. I’ve never played on a wicket like that at the SCG before. It was incredibly difficult to bat.
Smith made 33 in the first innings and 4 in the second essay, failing to sign off on a high after notching two hundreds in the series.
“I love the game, it’s been a fun series, India are an unbelievable team. There’s been some great challenges, Bumrah in particular. It’s been great fun and fortunate to get the result in the end,” the 35-year-old added.
Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc highlighted that everyone had “worked our backsides off” to get to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, emphasising the collective effort of the squad, support staff, and families for the successful result.
“Five Test matches against India, they’re always gruelling, particularly four and five always close together,” Starc told Fox Cricket.
“We’ve all worked our backsides off to get to this series, we knew it was a big one on the calendar and I think that’s just reward for all the hard work from the support staff, the families to the extended squad and everyone that’s taken part. It’s a fantastic result, today caps it off.
“I like staying out of the scanner but sometimes I’m made to get in there. It’s always ‘if I can make it worse, what’s worse look like?’ and if not, then kick on. I always want to be a part of it, if I can contribute – I don’t want to leave the guys a man short so that’s always a question – but as soon as I knew I wouldn’t leave them short I was ready to go.” India lost the series 1-3, after suffering defeats in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney while winning the opener in Perth.
Terming it special, veteran spinner Nathan Lyon said: “It has been a long time, there’s only a few of us that have held this trophy before. Special moment, something we’ve all wanted to achieve as a team, especially when you come up against a great side.
“The boys have been pretty amazing. There were nerves, there’s always nerves when you care, but the boys were fantastic,” Lyon told Fox Cricket.
Having endured a difficult start, Australia’s number three batter Marnus Labuschagne said: “I love the Baggy Green, I love Test cricket, and I love playing with these boys.
was a real challenging series. For us to just keep finding a way … all the batters had certain games where they just missed out and then stepped up in certain games and as a collective over a five Test match series, the batters just found a way.”
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