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Steven Smith and co. attend New York Mets practice ahead of West Indies tri-series

Australia will be heading to West Indies for tri-series against South Africa and hosts beginning from June 6.

Aaron Finch, Steven Smith and George Bailey at New York Mets practice Photo Courtesy: Cricket Australia's Twitter Handle
Aaron Finch, Steven Smith and George Bailey at New York Mets practice Photo Courtesy: Cricket Australia’s Twitter Handle

Before the tri-series begin, Australia’s top batsmen played a different innings at New York earlier today. While on the way heading to West Indies, skipper Steven Smith, George Bailey and Aaron Finch attended New York Mets batting practice before MLB’s clash against Los Angeles Dodgers at Citifield. It was a practicing session for the Aussies ahead of their series and also got some tips from Mets hitting coach Pat Roessier to understand the differences and similarities with their own batting practice in the nets. Smith said, “It is a great experience to be at the game and to have the chance to watch the batting practice up close beforehand.” ALSO READ: Steven Smith concerned over pink ball’s behaviour in Australia vs Pakistan 2016-17, day-night Test at Brisbane

 

While speaking to foxsports.com, he further added, “It would have been perfect to have a hit ourselves but with a series coming up we settled for just watching instead. I played some softball as a kid but didn’t play any baseball. I don’t follow the game closely but just seeing how different sportsmen go about their business was well worth the effort as you never stop learning. There’s obviously a bit of crossover as cricket and baseball are both bat and ball sports but there are some different skills between the two. I don’t think we could just walk out there and hit home runs straight away like these guys but the same would be true of the baseball batters trying to deal with the bowlers we face.” ALSO READ: Steven Smith expects South Africa, West Indies to fear Mitchell Starc

Smith further added, “We’ve been able to use our few days in New York to assemble as a squad following time off for some and the IPL for others and it means when we get to the Caribbean we’ll be over jet lag and ready to get going straight away.” Australia’s coach for tri-series Justin Langer also visited the ball park as he is taking over the responsibility until Darren Lehmann come back into actions. Langer himself knows hitting shots.

 

All the Australians were found for this clash including Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell and many others. The only exception were the ones who were playing for IPL and are on their way to New York respectively, that includes David Warner, James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Matthew Wade. After their loss against New Zealand earlier this year, Australia will be all gun blazing for the ODI tri-series against South Africa, West Indies.

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