Some claimed that signing Steve Smith will only benefit the Aussies who will soon after travel to England for the Ashes tour. Whatever Smith will read during his stint with Sussex, will come as an advantage for other players.
Clarifying the matter, Sussex coach Paul Fabrace has said that it is only for the good of English cricket. “We’ve taken a little bit of stake for signing Steve Smith, you know, and the and the allegation is that we’re giving him easy practise to be ready for the ashes. Absolute nonsense. What we’re doing is we’re raising the profile of English county cricket,” He said.
“We’re giving our players here. So Tom Haynes, Tom Alsop, all your players that want to play for England, they’re going to get an opportunity to work with Cheteshwar Pujara and Steve Smith for a period of time.”
It all can’t be one sided. For player like Ollie Robinson who will play in ashes series is also part of Sussex. He’ll play alongside Smith in the nets and games. On similiar grounds, he gain information about what is Smith weak at, so it can work both ways.
Most importantly, it is about giving an opportunity to the next generation of cricket to play with some of the greats of contemporary cricket world.
Coach Fabrace emphasized the point, saying “Learn from the best players in the world, players that played over 100 test matches for their countries. Players are as good as anything that played the game internationally. They’re getting an opportunity to work with them practise with them, see them at close quarters and see how they prepare. For me that that’s an advantage for English cricket.”
Smith will only play 4 or 5 matches for the Sussex side as World Test Championship final will unfold their too which will be play at the Oval, Surrey’s home ground.
Last time when Australia and England were head to head in Ashes series, Australia won it 4-0. English side was humiliated in australia. As the result of their iconic failure, English team had to reinvent their side which they did under the captaincy of Ben Stokes.