Steve Smith has reminded England that the Ashes will change hands if they suffer just two poor sessions in Perth, and then attention will switch to the whitewash.
Australia have won only one of their last four Tests at the Waca – and lost twice to South Africa during this time – but England’s precarious situation at 2-0 down with three to play is something their captain is keen to prey on.
“They are only a couple of bad sessions away from the series going away from them,” said Smith. “It would be nice to get those couple of sessions out of the way in the first few days here. I wouldn’t say we have played our best just yet, we have shown glimpses.
“It’s 2-0 at the moment so [the whitewash] is still on. There’s no reason why not. We will have to play some good cricket, no doubt England will come back hard. But if we can win it would take the wind out of their sails a little bit, knowing the series is dead and buried.”
Though Smith has called for a fast pitch for the Waca’s Ashes swansong Australia are expecting a hard slog on what has been a run-laden surface of late. To that end the all-rounder Mitchell Marsh is to set to play on his home ground instead of the underperforming Peter Handscomb and offer a fifth bowling option.
England’s batsmen have so far failed to deliver on a pledge to get overs into the legs of the Australian quicks. The reverse has in fact occurred and Josh Hazlewood insists he, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are feeling fresh and targeting all five Tests.
Hazlewood said: “It’s still a long way off obviously and I’ve just got to take it game by game as a fast bowler but I feel as good as I have. I’ve only bowled under 40 overs in both Tests so I feel pretty fresh and the other quicks are pretty similar.”
