Why South Africa series is so special, how I toasted AB Medal win - Steve Smith
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...n/news-story/b4b06ae44107166630ef08d8ffbeda37
I’VE had a week to reflect on winning a second Allan Border Medal, and it’s given me time to realise just how special an achievement it is.
I joined a really good list of people to have done that, alongside Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and David Warner, and while I would never play for personal accolades or awards I’m just pleased to have been able to contribute to the team and been recognised by my peers.
It was a great occasion and a fun night — albeit a quiet one for me.
I had a glass of wine to celebrate and was in bed by midnight, so that I could get stuck into the nets the next day — which was really good, because I was hitting them a lot better than I did during the one-day series against England.
We’re less than a fortnight away from the first Test against South Africa in Durban, and there’s no denying it: I’d love to get South Africa back for them beating us at home in 2016.
That tough series was a low point in Australian cricket, and from a personal point of view it was an important moment in shaping me as a captain.
And that’s why it’s such a huge series for myself and quite a few members of this team, and I’d love to turn the tide and win that series in Africa.
We know as a team that we played really well throughout the summer and produced some great Test cricket to win the Ashes — but good teams aren’t made off of one good series.
They do it day in and day out. And in particular they do it away from home.
It’s a challenge that all teams around the world face. Everyone plays really well at home and not so well away.
This is our opportunity to hopefully turn that around and hopefully play some really good cricket and play well in Africa.
I’m certainly ready for the challenge — even more so after having a little break following the one-day series against England.
It was the break I didn’t realise I needed but it has made a world of difference.
I kept trying to tell myself that everything was good and I felt OK, because you don’t want to tell yourself you’re tired — once you start telling yourself that, you start believing it and you let yourself down mentally.
But it is pretty important to have that mental refresh. For me, it was the build up of a long summer where every Test went five days, which you don’t get to see too often.
And I knew something was wrong when I didn’t want to hit the nets. Normally I want to hit lots and just keep batting, but by the end of the one-day series I just didn’t want to do it.
I just wanted to put the bat down and relax. That’s not normally me.
So I was fortunate to have those two weeks off leading into the AB Medal. And after that, the next day I wanted to pick my bat up again — so I did.
That really just means I’m refreshed and ready to get back into it.
I don’t think it’s too hard to get up mentally for these kind of series — and I’m definitely ready because that freshen up has me primed for what will be a massive series.
Obviously four years ago after the Ashes whitewash, we went to South Africa and were able to win that series there which was pretty special.
What I want from myself and from this group is to be able to replicate that on this tour and I know the boys are excited by it as well.
It’s a terrific place to tour and conditions wise it’s quite similar to what we have at home, which should work in our favour and hopefully the boys can carry on the momentum from what we had in the Ashes.
I want to finish off by talking about Pat Cummins and what a brilliant summer he’s had.
Six and a half years ago Pat made his Test debut in South Africa, and made an immediate impact on Test cricket because he’s an exceptional talent.
He’s had a tough time with injuries since then but, after a pretty intense summer of cricket, is in a really good place both mentally and with his body.
He’s really excited to have been able to get through the whole summer, having never gone through a full season before and playing in back-to-back Tests — so to get through five and play the way he did was pretty special.
As we saw in the Ashes, Pat is able to switch it on in key moments. His batting has been incredibly valuable — particularly in the first two Test matches where the 40s he got were so crucial to the end result in the Ashes.
He’s a great talent and he’s just going to better and better the more he plays — and we all can’t wait to see how he goes in this series.
