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<\/p>\n\u201cThroughout that day I was so tired even after concentrating that morning for five minutes in the nets, I was just exhausted,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I made the right decision, I think. Gave myself a few days to see some people, saw a couple of vestibular experts and got a bit of advice.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019ve had a few different things with my head in the past, head knocks, some vestibular stuff, some vertigo stuff. It was more the vestibular stuff this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the room spinning with the vertigo, which I\u2019ve had previously, but it\u2019s the eye-tracking and not being able to focus on things, particularly moving targets. I felt really slow, really heavy in the head, tightness in the neck and not much fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still talking to people about it. I\u2019ve got some training exercises I need to do, tracking things, wearing goggles with a laser on it, drawing different shapes and things like that. So it\u2019ll be a bit of that, strengthening my neck. Fingers crossed it\u2019s gone and never comes back. That would be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony of the whole saga was that it came a few days after Smith \u2013 unusually for him \u2013 saw the pink ball with extra clarity at the Gabba in a fiery confrontation with Jofra Archer, who on Wednesday was ruled out for the rest of the series.<\/p>\n
Smith said the eye-black he wore for the day-night Test in Brisbane will now become a consistent item in his kit bag.<\/p>\n
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Steve Smith, wearing eye-black, confronts Jofra Archer in a spirited end to the Brisbane Test earlier this month.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I batted pretty well in Brisbane, even with the pink ball, it\u2019s not been one of my strengths in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe black things I was wearing under my eyes, I\u2019m 100 per cent certain they worked, and I think I\u2019ll be bringing them out in normal night games against the white ball as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
An easy team to captain<\/p>\n
At the end of the Adelaide Test that sealed the Ashes, captain Pat Cummins embraced many of his teammates, but for Smith there was something more like a bear hug, lifting the stand-in skipper off the ground with deep affection.<\/p>\n
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Smith leaves the Adelaide Oval moments before the start of the third Test.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Much as he had forecast when Cummins was appointed skipper in 2021, the fast bowling leader has often needed Smith, both as an on-field confidant and an understudy. It\u2019s a dynamic that has sat well with both men, and the division of labour stands in marked contrast to the enormous weight on England\u2019s Ben Stokes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dynamic\u2019s been good, we\u2019ve had a really good team and that makes a huge difference; guys doing their roles and different people standing up,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite an easy team to captain if that makes sense.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m really big on angles and making sure they\u2019re right for particular batters when I\u2019m in charge. You might see me move people just a couple of metres because I think angles create different views and feelings in your mind about where you can hit the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work together in the middle, I give my opinions at times, sometimes too much, and Pat then takes it on board. But I\u2019m alway there to help in any way I can. Then when I take over, I\u2019ve got people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Gabba Test was won<\/p>\n
Knowing a fair way out that Cummins would be missing until Adelaide gave Smith some time to think on tactics and tempos. While Perth passed by in a two-day blur, Smith pointed to the pink-ball cat-and-mouse of the Brisbane Test as critical to the series: in particular the decision to pick Michael Neser.<\/p>\n
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Smith and Australian coach Andrew McDonald in Mebourne preparing for the Boxing Day Test.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were umming and ahhing over [Neser] or Nathan [Lyon] playing,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought if we bat well and get the game on our terms, the point of difference with him being able to bowl with the \u2019keeper up and keep them stuck in their crease was something that work really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we batted in that second innings, the lower order was huge in the scheme of the series. One to put more overs into some of their bowlers, but two to get the game on our terms and bowl those overs at night where we got those six wickets, was a huge turning point in that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staying fresh<\/p>\n
Following the Adelaide result, England have been predictably beset by questions over their preparation before the series, their sojourn to Noosa and the nocturnal habits of some players.<\/p>\n
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Steve Smith in profile.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Smith looked at all this with a sympathetic eye, having struggled under a similar glare during his captaincy. His one piece of advice would be to suggest England\u2019s first-time tourists might benefit from more match practice on Australian pitches.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive Test matches of intense battles, scrutiny, everything, it\u2019s a lot, and you get to the end of a series … every Ashes series I\u2019ve got to the end of, I\u2019ve been cooked afterwards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it is a tricky one. Maybe because a lot of their batters potentially haven\u2019t been here before they need to experience the pace and the bounce of the wickets under pressure.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s such a fine balance. You can get a lot of that stuff in the nets, but it\u2019s the pressure scenario of games that are what you want.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our prep in the past has been maybe some of our guys are a bit underdone at the start of the series, but by the end they might be absolutely flying in the fourth and fifth Tests. It\u2019s hard to have both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith also empathised with Brendon McCullum\u2019s comments about \u201coverpreparing\u201d for matches, having dialled back his own volume of training in his advancing years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think sometimes, particularly when you lose, you almost try too much and too hard and you lose sight of the fact that you want to be mentally fresh when you go in the middle,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you just try too hard to get yourself into that frame of mind, and you\u2019re actually cooked when you go out to the middle to try to perform under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned that over time. I certainly don\u2019t hit as many balls as I used to. In the past, I\u2019d probably still be in the nets now and going for another hour or so.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re young, I was all about hitting balls. I didn\u2019t feel mentally drained when I went into a game, whereas now I\u2019m older and played for a long time, I know if I use it all up in the nets, it will hold me back in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stuart\u2019s broadside<\/p>\n
Understandably, Smith was less sympathetic about some of the things thrown Australia\u2019s way before the series. As the last remaining player who actually took part in the 2010-11 Ashes, Smith gave short shrift to Stuart Broad\u2019s comments about this being the weakest Australian side since then. After all, as Smith pointed out, this has been the world\u2019s top-rated side over the past four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe statement we\u2019re the worst team since 2010 was a huge one,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe way we\u2019ve played our cricket for the last four years, we\u2019ve made two Test Championship finals and pretty much all the personnel is similar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a couple of new ones, with Jake [Weatherald] playing and [Josh] Inglis getting a run, but all these guys have been around for a while and [are] proven performers, so it was a huge call from Broady.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly see ourselves as a good team, we\u2019re confident in each other and the way we play, and I think the best part of it is everyone stepping up at different times and taking their roles on and helping the team. That\u2019s what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
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As for the future, Smith has gradually stepped back from the series-by-series proposition he became in recent years. Enjoying his game and the team, Smith intends to stick around for some time yet \u2013 health permitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just assume I\u2019m playing until I say otherwise,\u201d he said of his planning chats with Cummins and McDonald. \u201cAt the moment, I\u2019m enjoying it, it\u2019s fun, so I don\u2019t have any immediate plans to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n