Australian cricketer Steve Smith will be playing the three-match ODI and T20I series against England in September. But because of the coronavirus scare, the series would be played behind closed doors. Smith has expressed that he would be missing the crowd in England because they motivate him to give his best.
Last time, When Steve Smith toured England to play the Ashes 2019, which was his comeback Test series, spectators at the stadium had badly booed him. The reason being Smith was accused of the ball-tampering in the South Africa Test 2018 which led his ban from the cricket from one year. England crowd was jeering and mocking the Aussie player for the same. It could have degraded the morale of any batsman, seeing the whole crowd standing against him. But Steve Smith stood like a warrior with his bat and lead his team to retain the Ashes.
The unorthodox batsman was the highest scorer in the Ashes 2019 although he missed one innings after being out because of concussion. In seven innings, Smith with his incredible batting scored 144, 142, 92, 211, 82, 80, 23 runs respectively at an average of 110.57. After scoring mammoth runs, the same crowd gave him the standing ovation.
Steve Smith Will Miss England Crowd To Motivate Him
Last year, as the crowd was a motivation dose for him, Steve Smith, in the recent interaction, has said that therefore he will miss them.
“I do like batting there (England). But unfortunately, there’s no crowd there to egg me on and give me a bit more motivation. Still, there are going to be plenty of eyes on the TV and it is going to be great to be back out there playing.”
It would be a tough tour: Steve Smith
The former captain flew from Sydney to Perth on Sunday before the 21-man squad departed for England. They will under a bio-secure environment where they would be not allowed to meet any outsider. So, Steve Smith believes that it would be a tough tour because the players would be stuck in the same place for an extended period. He opines that helping each other out is the only solution to survive there.
“I’m sure there’ll be tough moments for the guys being away from their families for long periods… and being stuck in the same place for an extended period – but we’ll all work together and help ourselves and each other out.”
Meanwhile, this would be the first bilateral series Australia would be playing since the coronavirus outbreak in March. On the other hand, England is currently playing their second bilateral series against Pakistan since they resumed the sports.