\u201cIt is always a challenge batting under lights when the ball is new, it is always difficult,\u201d Smith said before the 2024 pink ball game here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find with the pink ball batting at night is probably easier to see the ball \u2026 in the day I find it more difficult to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m batting well, and hopefully I can make some good decisions this week and get a total.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith did not return from the United States until a couple of weeks before the first Ashes Test, as the national selectors gave him room to spend more time in his adopted home rather than playing every Sheffield Shield round for New South Wales.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got pretty much two weeks before my first game, which is probably too much these days,\u201d Smith said when he got back to Sydney.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHonestly, it takes me two hits to get sorted. I feel like I\u2019m ready to go now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had three hits since I\u2019ve been back. Everything feels good. I\u2019ve been training quite hard, been doing a lot of lifting, trying to get a bit stronger. I did all my strength tests yesterday, and they\u2019re all as good as they\u2019ve ever been.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I certainly get drained mentally quicker than I probably used to. Ten years ago, I loved to come back and play every single game that I could. I know that when I play a lot at the start, by the end of the summer I\u2019m pretty cooked mentally and probably can\u2019t produce the same performances as I suppose I did last summer.\u201d<\/p>\n