Cricket: Australia’s Steven Smith and Usman Khwaja to make Test Debut against Pakistan
Steven Smith started his career on a promising note in T20 and One Day Internationals. This youngster has impressed different cricketing pundits with his mature temperament towards the game. Smith is all set to make his test debut at Lord’s when Australia take on Pakistan in a two test match series. Smith along with Usman Khawaja is likely to wear the famous green baggy cap in his first test match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
Captain Ricky Ponting believes that Steven will have to work hard for the series ahead of him. He believes the young bowling all-rounder still has room for improvement. While Ponting believes that Smith will put in a solid performance in his first test, he is a little worried for the fact that batsman played him easily against Derbyshire. Smith was far from his right line and length. He struggled against batsman and only picked up one wicket late in the innings. The youngsters bowling action may be replicating Shane Warne’s style but his bowling performance is far from Warne’s magical spells.
Pakistan faced problems while playing against Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill and Nathan Hauritz. It will be a litmus test for the youngster trying to find his feet in the test arena.
Ponting said that Smith has been working on his little weaknesses in order to prepare for his Lords debut. He believed that Smith was a little out of shape by bowling too straight a line to right handed batsman during the practice match in Derbyshire. Ricky said: "Smithy has got a bit of work to do with his bowling yet, He probably didn't get out of the game what he wanted the other day. He was a little bit off the mark there but you can understand that with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 guy playing his first game for Australia”.
Smith will be playing as a specialist bowler, however, Australia will take advantage of his decent batting record. Smith can stay on the wicket while ticking the score board along. Smith coming down at number eight will provide the Australian side a lot of batting depth. Smith will become the 415 Australian to play test cricket for the national side. Ponting believes the young boy has all the necessary ingredients to become a successful bowler at the international level. The Australian skipper also appreciated Smith’s positive approach towards the game. Smith has an aggressive approach towards the game which one can easily find when he is batting.
Legendary http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 bowler also has faith in Smith’s bowling. Shane Warne while praising the young spinner said that Steven still has to travel a long way. Warne said the final product in the shape of Steven will be much better than what he is today. Shane was of the point of view that Smith should have played more domestic cricket before making his international debut in test cricket. "I think he has all the toys, But he is pretty raw and is a work in progress is nowhere near the finished product. He will almost certainly have some good days and some bad days. He will have to learn his craft on the run, while playing Test cricket. That is pretty difficult to do. But as long as he is patient with developing slowly I am okay with that.” Warne added.
Chances are that Simon Katich will also be used as a part time spinner. Katich will help take pressure off Smith. Simon was seen bowling long spells in the nets to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Usman-Khawaja-c2729, another youngster all set to make his debut in test cricket. Katich was used carefully in the past because of his shoulder pain. The batsman turned all rounder, looks in good shape and is likely to bowl long spells along with Smith. Ponting also said that Katich will be given bowling provided he is feeling well. Australian captain and classic batsman said, "The only reason he hasn't bowled much in the last couple of years is he's had a bad shoulder," Ponting said. "But since he's been here in England he's actually bowled a bit more than normal and his shoulder feels good, so whenever he's feeling good we'll try to get what over’s out of him that we can.”
Smith has played a total of 13 first class cricket matches in which he picked up 26 wickets. Interestingly Steven’s batting stats are better than his bowling stats. Smith in his 13 first class matches scored 1012 runs at an average of 56.22.
Tags: