Ashes 2017: Joe Root got out lbw a lot so it was nice our plans for him worked, says Steve Smith

England captain Joe Root has a lot to ponder about after getting lbw in the first Ashes Test.

Australian captain Steve Smith maintained that his bowlers have deduced a method to dismiss England’s premier batsman Joe Root. Referring to Root’s recent trend of getting lbw more often Smith said that is something that the Australians can play out in the middle as well.

Speaking to reporters he said, “It was nice our plans for Root worked. I read something on Twitter the other day about a trend that’s been occurring with him since the start of 2016. He’s got out lbw a lot.”

“It’s nice we are able to open up that side of his bat and I saw him working on it in the nets the other day so he’s trying to fix those issues,” he added. “That’s tough to do in the middle of the series. So we’ll have some things going through his head out in the middle. That’s something we can play on out in the middle as well,” he went on to say,” he went on to add.

On his remarkable run of form, Smith maintained that he is not taking anything for granted. “You’re only as good as your last game. I outperformed them last game, there’s no doubt they’ll come out hard again,” he said. “They’re good bowlers, they’ve got good skills. As a collective batting group we’ll have to be at our best to score runs against them,” he concluded.