CT 2017: Steve Smith calls outing against New Zealand as worst bowling display

Australian skipper blasted his bowling unit after a lacklustre show against New Zealand in their first game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. The Kiwi batsmen dictated terms for the major part of the first innings of the match. At one stage in the game, the New Zealand batsmen looked in sublime form as they had posted 259/3 by the end of 39 overs. Had their not been a late comeback by Oz bowlers, things would have been worse.

In the end, the match ended up being a washed out affair and both teams had to share points. Speaking in the post-match conference, Steve Smith rued the poor bowling display. He noted that the bowlers bowled on both sides of the wicket and did not stick to the plans. The way they gave freebies is certainly not acceptable at all. He believes that the team needs to buck up before their next game.

“I thought it was probably one of the worst bowling displays that we’ve put on for a very long time. We bowled both sides of wicket. We gave them a lot of freebies. It was pretty ordinary. We certainly would have preferred to be in New Zealand’s position when we came off the end there. We still had a lot of work to do and they’ve got a quality bowling attack as well. So we perhaps got away with one there,” quoted Steve Smith.

Hope it was rust

Adding further on the same note, he hoped that the bowling display was perhaps because of the fact that the bowlers had come after a long injury layoff. He hoped that the performance was rusty because of that and things will get better in the matches to follow.

“Let’s hope it’s rust and let’s hope it’s gone. Because that was, as I said, was pretty ordinary. But credit to them. They came out quite hard and played quite well up top. And Kane timed his innings beautifully and played really well throughout the middle,” conceded Smith.