"Harris is batting well in the nets" - Steve Smith on the southpaw's lean patch
Australian Test vice-captain Steve Smith has thrown his support to underfire batter Marcus Harris as questions about his place in the side continue to grow following another poor performance in the second Ashes Test.
The home side have played as a unit so far as they find themselves 2-0 up in the five-match Ashes series, beating England by 275 runs in Adelaide.
While everyone has contributed to the winning cause, Harris has looked off-colour. This is being highlighted even more as the in-form Usman Khawaja awaits in the wings.
AUSTRALIA WIN! 🇦🇺🎉
The hosts beat England by 2️⃣7️⃣5️⃣ runs in the second Test and go 2️⃣-0️⃣ up in the five-match Test Series 🙌
#Australia #England #AUSvENG #Ashes https://t.co/FcxrYJdCny
However, Smith, who led the Aussies in this day-night Test in the absence of incumbent Pat Cummins, stated that Harris doesn't need to overthink and must concentrate on the process.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Steve Smith said:
"Harris is batting well in the nets, so he needs to not overthink it and trust the process and he can turn it around."
Marcus Harris, who has managed only 38 runs in the last four innings, retained his berth as Australia named an unchanged squad for the remainder of the Ashes series.
Meanwhile, all-rounder Cameron Green has also blown hot and cold so far in the Test series. Steve Smith stressed that the young cricketer from Western Australia needed a break before the Boxing Day Test.
"Talking about Green, the guys inside didn't want him to bowl today at all. We're just trying to manage the workload, he's still young, he's bowled the last two days, it's a long series and we have the boxing day Test in the next five days.
"He's taken key wickets for us in the two tests and he's got a lot to do in the boxing day Test as well," Smith added.
Green played a handy innings of 33* in the second essay of the Adelaide Test which will give him a lot of confidence as the series enters the business end.
"We weren't nervous" - Steve Smith on Jos Buttler's 207-ball vigil
What a way to end an epic innings! 😲
That's the first time Buttler has been dismissed hit wicket in his 193-innings first class career #Ashes https://t.co/nRP09djjay
England showed great resilience on the final day thanks to Jos Buttler's 258-minute stay in the middle. The wicketkeeper-batter played 207 deliveries for his 26-run knock.
However, he was out hit-wicket as England crumbled for 192 runs.
Steve Smith said the Aussies never felt nervous and believed a couple of good balls would do the job for his side.
"We weren't nervous, they showed some real resilience to be honest. Jos played exceptionally well, faced 200 odd deliveries and probably witnessed an innings from him that we normally haven't seen from him.
"He showed good fight with Woakes and Robinson as well. We always felt couple of good balls with still plenty of time left, we knew we were there."
Steve Smith was back at the helm earlier this week, leading the side in the absence of Pat Cummins for the first time since the 2018 ball-tampering saga. The New South Wales cricketer admitted he had fun captaining the team.
"Had fun this week after a long time captaining the side, did enjoy. Thought the guys were in total control of the game. Davey and Marnus's partnership set up the game for us.
"We were in control of the game, we knew when to declare and where to bowl to certain batters," Smith said.
The 32-year-old added:
"Complete performance, special mention to Mitchell Starc, I thought he was exceptional for a long time, his lines and lengths were brilliant.
"There wasn't a great deal of swing for him and he was just trying to bash the good length, trying to across the right-handers in particulars and hit the good areas on consistent basis, he looked in great rhythm. I'm really proud of the way he went about his business in this game."
With a 2-0 lead in the series, Australia will host England in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), starting December 26.