Australia stand-in skipper Steve Smith on Monday said that he enjoyed leading the side and that he never doubted the team’s victory in the day-night second Ashes Test against England despite Jos Buttler's dogged resistance, the 32-year-old said after putting his team 2-0 ahead in the five-match series on Monday.
Buttler, who dropped several catches behind the wicket, tried to redeem himself with 26 off 207 balls in a spectacular rearguard spread over more than four hours even though it was not enough in the end.
"I wasn't nervous," Smith said after the win.
"I thought Jos early on was content to stay at one end. He’d do four balls at one end and get up to the other end. When you get to that point I thought there was enough in the wicket and I was confident.
"I thought he played really well. He played over 200 balls. It’s not the traditional Jos we have seen in the past. His defence was really good. He gave them a bit of a shift there for a while. So it was good resistance along with Chris Woakes and Robbo (Ollie Robinson). We wanted to stay calm because it would take a couple of good balls and a couple of wickets to get the win. I did enjoy captaincy and the guys played well and controlled the game after the first day. Davey (David Warner) and Marnus's partnership set it up, so we could control the game," Smith said.
Smith said he only knew how as taking over the captaincy a few hours before the match began on Thursday.
"On day one, there was not a lot of nerves. I only found out about 10 or 11 a.m. I had two missed calls from Pat and a missed message from (head coach) Justin Langer..." Smith said.
"I found out the news that Pat was out for the game and I was going to be captain. It’s been an enjoyable week, hopefully we can keep this momentum going."Smith complimented fast bowler Mitchell Starc and Jhye Richardson, the latter returning after two years out of Test cricket through injury
"A special mention to Starc, who has bowled as well as he's bowled in a long time, and he's led the attack really well. I think he summed it up quickly that it wasn't swinging and he was just hitting a good length and attacking the batsmen. The guys in there said Cam Green shouldn't bowl at all today, because his workload needs to be managed. Ideally, he shouldn't have bowled today, but we needed him to bowl because of how good he has been," he added.
Richardson added another dimension, Smith said.
"He's a bit more skiddy than the others. We did bowl a lot fuller than England did, Jhye is a thinker," he added.
Jhye Richardson scalped five wickets in the second innings as Australia defeated England by 275 runs in the second Ashes Test. With this win, Australia has gained a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Melbourne hosts the third Test from Sunday, December 26, and Smith ruled out the possibility of taking their foot off the pedal.
"England are a good side and we have not really let them back into the conTest yet. That’s how we want to keep it," said the top order batsman.
Resuming the final session on Day 5 at 180/8, England was given a body blow almost immediately as Richardson dismissed Buttler (26). The Three Lions' wicketkeeper's 207-ball stay came to an unfortunate end as he was hit wicket.
The final wicket of James Anderson (2) was taken by Richardson and Australia registered an emphatic win in the second Test.
