Birmingham [UK], June 14 : Australian batter Steve Smith, who will come to bat at the Birmingham ground after a long gap, talked about his batting practice for the Ashes and said he likes to bat in the nets till he gets his rhythm.
The Ashes series between Australia and England will start on Friday at Edgbaston.
"I just didn't feel in sync. I didn't have any rhythm. It just didn't feel right. I normally don't stop batting in the nets until I feel in good rhythm...and it can change from different conditions as to what I'm trying to actually feel," he said, according to cricket.com.au.
The star batsman said he persisted with his practice and got into the groove.
"But on this occasion, I felt like I was just getting my weight through the ball, leaving well and hitting the ball in the middle of the bat as consistently as possible. That's what I had been looking for and when I finally found it, I kept it going for a while. I batted for about ten minutes more to feel the groove, feel that I'm in a good place, and then that was about it," he said.
"I think I hit 15 or 20 more balls where I wanted to, I saw them all well, moved well and then I was like 'all right, I'm ready'. I think you can draw on what you've done at places before," Smith added.
He also talked about each innings being a new beginning.
"I feel that back home when I play at the SCG for instance, I've done well there so I have confidence initially going in there that I've done well on that surface before. So I'll have that no doubt at Edgbaston. But ultimately it's another game, another Test, so it is starting from scratch," he said.
Smith returned to Test cricket after a long break in the World Test Championship and scored 155 runs in two innings. His knock in the first innings played a major role in Australia's victory over India.
Australia squad for Ashes: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
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