England’s tour of Australia for the Ashes this summer has been a truly miserable one. It is bad enough that the visitors are 3-0 down and already out of the running for the series three matches in, after only 11 matches of cricket. But this is a real nadir for the team following the extreme criticism following the players’ visit of the beach town of Noosa, and the cited alcohol problems that came along with it.
Ben Stokes’ team came under extreme pressure for the 4-day break in the build-up to the 3rd Test in Adelaide, with the preparations coming under question given the state of the performances. While the English media has hammered the team, they have still found some support from the Australian team themselves, who have regularly defended the decision of their rivals to have a getaway.
The latest was Steven Smith, who spoke to the press on Christmas Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and said he could understand the reasons for England’s trip, and how difficult it can be to deal with that kind of scrutiny.
“When you’re losing, the spotlight is always on you and things can get spoken about and get blown up pretty heavily. So … I feel for them, in a way. It can be tricky,” said Smith.
“You’re in a country where you know you can go out and about and enjoy yourselves, and with big breaks, you know, you’ve got to experience the country that you’re in as well,” he explained. England and Australia did face sizeable breaks between each of the first three Tests, but face rapid-fire games in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney to close out the tour.
‘You need to get away from the game…’
“Sometimes I think you’ve just got to — and I heard a few of the comments — but you have got to get away from the game and try and put it out of your mind and just relax for a little bit too. And I can see that’s the kind of path that they wanted to go down and I think it’s fair enough,” continued Smith.
Players such as Ben Duckett have faced massive criticism for being spotted heavily intoxicated after nights out in Noosa, but given it was a period set out for recreation and relaxation, Smith did have some sympathy for the team. Particularly, he understood the necessity to ‘switch off’ during a long extended tour.
“I can’t really comment more than that on how they’re feeling or how they’re going about things but, yeah, I certainly believe that when you’ve lost two Test matches, and you’ve got such a long break, sometimes you just need to get away from the game and switch off entirely,” said Smith.
The Australian batter captained his team in the first two matches of the series, but missed the Adelaide Test due to illness. However, he might be in charge again in Melbourne, with Pat Cummins attempting to manage his workload with the series sealed.
