Steve Smith of Australia admitted on Tuesday that he has not played to his normal high standards this year, but he feels he has found part of the solution by taking up golf.
It has been a difficult year of cricket for the star batter, who was a key member of Australia’s team that won the Ashes, the World Test Championship, and the World Cup.
However, the 34-year-old revealed that his form had fallen ahead of the first Test against Pakistan, which begins on Thursday in Perth.
In Tests, he averages 58.61 and is ranked third in the world by the ICC, however he averaged 37.30 in the Ashes and 29 in the away series in India.
“I don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he told Perth media. “I’ve maintained a high level of performance for a long time.”
“I was probably falling short of my expectations.” It’s about not overthinking it, not overplaying it, and not changing too much for me.”
Smith had little time to celebrate Australia’s World Cup victory in India and said that it had been a draining 2023 – which is where golf comes in.
“Any sort of moment you can get to have a few days or a week just to get away from the game and get your mental side back to a position where you can go out and perform internationally, it’s important,” he went on to say.
“I’ve gotten into golf a little bit and played a little bit of golf back home.”
“The boys are continually laughing about it at the moment, that I’m getting into golf.”