Australia’s Steve Smith has eyes on the prize in the 2nd Ashes test against England

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Now that he’s worked out that he had them upside down, Steve Smith is more confident about wearing the black strips under his eyes while batting in the day-night Ashes cricket test at the Gabba starting Thursday.

More commonly used by footballers playing under lights, the black strips are part of Smith’s attempt to leave nothing to chance facing the pink ball against England’s bowling attack in changing light conditions.

The Australians are coming off an eight-wicket victory in the series-opener in Perth, which finished on Day 2 after Ben Stokes’ England lineup wasted strong momentum at several stages while pursuing an attack-at-all-costs Bazball routine.

Smith is expecting more of the same from England. He said his lineup would also offer more of the Aussie approach to the game, describing it as a more pragmatic focus on playing to the conditions.

Hence, his new look — one he borrowed from ex-West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul and which gained plenty of attention around cricket circles when he experimented with it at practice this week.

“I actually messaged Shivnarine Chanderpaul and asked him what his thoughts were, whether he wore the chalk or the strips. He said the strips, and he thinks it blocks out 65% of the glare,” Smith said Wednesday at the captain’s news conference on the eve of the second test. “He also said ‘I’ve seen photos and you’re wearing them the wrong way.’

“So yesterday I put them on the right way and … I agree. It certainly stops the glare and yeah, I’ll be wearing them.”

Australian XI

The Australians have been forced into at least one change after Usman Khawaja was ruled out of the second test because of back problems that curtailed his participation in Perth last week, with most pundits predicting a return for Josh Inglish in the middle order and Travis Head continuing as an opener after his starring role in the first test.

Australia is delaying finalizing a starting XI until the toss, leaving Smith to deal with speculation about injured skipper Pat Cummins being rushed back into the lineup from outside the match squad. He fielded multiple questions without giving a definitive answer.

Cummins missed the first test with a back injury and was left out of the original squad for the second, but joined stand-in captain Smith and coach Andrew McDonald for a pitch inspection Wednesday.

“He looks pretty good to me, the way he’s bowled in the nets,” Smith said of Cummins. “Obviously games are a different intensity. He’s tracking really nicely, he knows his body well. We’ll wait and see.”

The Gabba

The Australians have an excellent record in day-night test matches, with the only one blemish. That was an upset eight-run loss to West Indies in January of last year at the Gabba, a ground where the Australians have been otherwise close to unbeatable for decades.

England hasn’t won an Ashes test at the Brisbane venue since 1986, and hasn’t won a test on Australian soil since the 2010-11 series.

Stokes has vowed to maintain England’s “blueprint” for attacking approach, which was heavily criticized in Perth. Asked to describe Australia’s way, Smith kept it simple.

“Adapting to conditions and what’s in front of us — playing the game in real time,” he said. “That’s one thing this team’s done really well for a period of time, been able to sum up the conditions, play what’s in front in live time.

“And I think if you do that in test cricket, it holds you in pretty good stead.”

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket