Stand-in captain revealed that Pat Cummins wishes him good luck for the 2nd Test at Adelaide after the no.1 ranked bowler was ruled out for the Pink ball Test. Notable that Pat Cummins was ruled out after being identified as close contact with a Covid positive case.
Steve Smith said at the toss that it’s a huge honour for him to lead the country again. And he also revealed that he got full support from the regular skipper. This is the first time when Steve Smith has been captaining Australia since that famous Sandpaper Gate at Cape Town in March 2018. Cricket Australia barred him and David Warner from any leadership role for two years.
Michael Neser has been making his Test debut
At the toss, Steve Smith said, “It’s a huge honour obviously. Been a pretty interesting morning, bit been going on. Feel for Patty missing this game, but I’ll try and lead on the way he started last week, and hopefully we can have a really good week. (Spoken to Cummins) Just good luck, go for it, it’s your team this week, control the boys and keep moving forward.”
Missing Pat Cummins-the bowler has been a huge blow for Australia as Josh Hazlewood has already been ruled out for this game. In absence of Cummins, Australia handed the Test Cap no. 462 to Michael Neser. The debutant received his test cap from legendry bowler Glenn McGrath.
“They (Cummins and Hazlewood) are obviously big losses for us, they are two world-class bowlers. But we have been really excited by what we’ve seen from Jhye Richardson for a few years now and Michael Neser, I am really excited for him, he’s worked his backside off for a long time, been 12th man numerous times and he gets his opportunity, we are all looking forward to playing with him this week, it’s a great moment for him.”– Steve Smith added further at the toss.
Australia have been unbeaten in Pink-ball Tests, winning 8 out of 8. Will Joe Root & Co. capitalize on this opportunity to turn things around?
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