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Australian skipper Steven Smith not taking Bangladesh lightly

Michael Clarke’s successor Steven Smith will lead a highly inexperienced squad against Bangladesh
 

Australia’s newly appointed Test captain Steven Smith said that the Bangladesh series is not one to test out new players, Cricket.com.au reports. The 26-year-old added that his side will have to take the 9th placed team who have showcased some brilliant performances in the last few months seriously.

The squad named for the Bangladesh series is one of the Australia’s most inexperienced ones in the recent past with two uncapped players making the team and the 15-man-squad has only five players who have more than 10 Tests under their belt.

The likes of former skipper Michael Clarke, Ryan Harris, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Chris Rogers have retired post the Ashes series leaving a huge void in the Australian dressing room. Smith said that though he was not surprised by so many veterans retiring, so many of them bidding adieu at the same time was a little hard to digest.

"I think you could see that those guys were getting quite old and they were getting to probably the end of their careers," Smith said. "I didn’t expect it all happen at once but now is a chance for some guys to come in and stamp their own authority on the side and hopefully fill those gaps really well.”

Though Smith conceded that this is the best time for the younger players to step in and make a name for themselves, he is not taking the Bangladesh side lightly. Apart from the enforced changes, Smith said that he will not be using the tour to try out players. 

"Not at all. Every Test you play you want to win, you want to win very series you play, and it’s no different going to Bangladesh,” Smith said. “It’s going to be difficult playing over there, they’ve played some very good cricket in their own backyard."It’s going to be a tough tour, but hopefully we prepare well and adapt to the conditions accordingly and have a successful tour." 

With Australia embarking on a run of 10 Tests within a four-month period from October of February, Smith feels that it is a golden opportunity for Australia to improve their record away from home which has been dismal with their only win in their last 15 games in Asia coming against Sri Lanka at Galle way back in 2012. \

"We want to improve the way we play away from home and this is our first chance to do that. The conditions can be quite foreign to what we’re used to in Australia so the guys will have to adapt right away and have plans in place to make sure they’re doing everything they can to make sure they have success over there,” Smith said. "We’ve got a bit of a clean slate with a lot of guys coming in and it’s a really exciting time for Australian cricket."

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