"Our wickets have been tricky"- Steve Smith fires warning to England ahead of The Ashes 2025-26

Steve Smith noted that Australia have an experienced and successful bowling attack.

Veteran Australian batsman Steve Smith has fired a warning to the England Cricket Team ahead of The Ashes 2025-26, saying that batting on Australian pitches will be a tough challenge for the Ben Stokes-led side. The much-awaited test series will commence in November.

Notably, The Ashes 2025-26 will be the second test series for Australia and England in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27. Australia made a wonderful start in the tournament, defeating the West Indies by a margin of 3-0 in a three-match series.

England recently played a five-match test series against India at home. However, the hosts failed to win the series despite a good start in the initial games. The series ended in a 2-2 draw, with India making a wonderful comeback in the last two matches.

Batting in Australia will be a big challenge for England: Steve Smith

During an interview with Sky Sports, Smith said that England showed an aggressive batting approach in the recent test series against India. However, batting on Australian pitches will be a huge challenge for them.

“Their series against India was one of the best I’ve seen in years. They play aggressive cricket, but batting in Australia will be a big challenge. Our wickets have been tricky, and we’ve got an experienced, successful bowling attack,” he said.

Smith also noted that Joe Root has been in brilliant form for the last two years and will be aiming for his first test century in Australia during Ashes 2025-26. Root became the second-highest run-scorer in test cricket during the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.

“He’s been outstanding the past two years, turning 50s into big hundreds. He hasn’t scored a Test hundred in Australia yet – I’m sure he’ll be aiming for it, but hopefully he doesn’t get it this summer. We’ll just let our skills do the talking. We know our conditions well and trust our game,” he further said.

Notably, England had horrible outings in their last three Ashes campaigns in Australia. They faced a 4-0 defeat during the 2021-22 and 2017-18 editions. In 2013-14, England lost by a 5-0 margin. England’s last Ashes victory in Australia came in the 2010-11 edition, when they clinched a 3-1 win.

The last edition of the Ashes in 2023 in England ended in a 2-2 draw, witnessing five nail-biting encounters between both sides. Meanwhile, the opening game of Ashes 2025-26 will be played from November 21 at Perth Cricket Stadium, Perth.

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