Former Australian opening batsman Chris Rogers has lauded the efforts of Australian skipper after hard-fought hundred against England in the first Test of the ongoing Ashes 2017-18 series at Gabba in Brisbane.
“And you know what a fantastic inning (Smith played). He set Australia up,” Rogers told ESPNcricinfo.
The 40-year-old batsman Rogers believes the unbeaten innings at Gabba on Saturday (November 25) is his best innings so far while considering the situation of the game.
“He is just on top of his game. If he is not the player in the world he is definitely one of them. It has to be one of his best, I think because of the situation,” Rogers maintained.
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The 28-year-old Smith smashed unbeaten 141, as his innings was comprised of 14 boundaries, as Rogers reiterated the former is looking to claim the first-ever Ashes title under his leadership, as he would be eyeing to make most out of the home series.
“Being a captain he (Steven Smith) is so much desperate to be on the winning side. He doesn’t want that to be in his career you know losing an Ashes Test series at home as captain,” Rogers asserted.
Rogers remarked Smith could have played his shots while relying on his strength, but he took too long to contribute just in favour of his team after facing 346 balls in his first innings as a batsman.
“So, you could see the determination, I think the factor took him so many balls to score his hundred – to show how much it means to him. He could have played more shots he wanted to,” Roger added.
Interestingly, during the 66-run partnership with Pat Cummins for the eighth-wicket, Rogers observed Smith played an integral part while showing some faith in a tail-ender, who went on to register 42 crucial runs after facing 120 balls
“But he played that way… played the situation. He backed Pat Cummins as well,” Roger further added.
On the other side, Rogers feels England skipper Joe Root did best he could have had while adding even the visitors tried to short-ball ploy which saw Smith waiting for the loose ball – to make most out of the opportunity.
“Yeah, you can’t really criticize Joe Root. You can’t say he left anything out there really… I mean they did they tried a lot of leg-side theory, but nothing worked in end,” Rogers concluded.
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Following the remarkable knock of Smith, Rogers stated he is wondering how the Three Lions would claim his wicket after giving their best with the red-cherry.
“And yeah, it means so much… I don’t know what England is going to do from here… How they are going to get him out,” Rogers said.
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Owing to the importance of Smith’s triple-figure knock, Rogers remarked that former had played such a controlled innings while adding apart from a couple of rash shots, his innings was methodical according to the situation the game has demanded of late.
“Even if you think about how many false shots he played throughout his innings. It’s very few (in number),” Rogers concluded.