London [UK], June 8 (ANI): Australia star batter Steve Smith opened up on how he made a 'conscious effort' to keep the bat away from his hand following ODI retirement and give himself a break, as he prepares for his team's title defence in the ICC World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord's.

Smith, 36, who retired from ODIs after his side's semifinal run in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, will be aiming to continue his superb form in whites and hit another century for ages during the title clash for the Test mace on June 11. Having hit a century during 2023 WTC final against India in UK, Smith struggled for runs for a while before regaining his magic touch during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India. In his last five Tests across India and Sri Lanka Tests, he has scored four centuries.

But while some of his teammates played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) all this while and some represented the English counties to acquint themselves with playing conditions prevailing during the WTC final, Smith spent some time in New York before finally picking up his willow for the nets session few days back, telling the Aussie coach Andrew McDonald, 'Can we play tomorrow, I am ready to go.'

While the Australian set-up since a long while has trusted player to plan their preparations the way they want and one could be trusted to do the right thing after 10,000 runs under their belt, it was still not normal for Smith to pick up his bat for a few months, a known cricket nut known to shadow bat and practice really hard.

Turning 36 just last week, he was in America working with a new personal trainer on a fitness regime. He said that he feels as strong as 2014, with improved mobility in hips that could assist him in taking better catches at slips.

'I would normally have a bat laying around the house somewhere and just pick it up and do a bit of shadow batting and stuff. But I made a conscious decision to try and just let it go for a while. It was good,' said Smith as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

'I had not hit a ball since I missed a full toss off Mohammed Shami in the Champions Trophy (during March). Fortunately, everything sort of clicked into place immediately. I feel like I am moving really well, I feel strong and just ready to get into it now.'

'Normally how it works is my first hit is good, my second hit is awful, and then I would get better from there. But both hits were just really good and I was like, hopefully it does not turn around now and I do not have to spend hours in the nets the next couple of days,' he continued.

It is really helpful that Smith has a Test average of 56.01 in England with 12 tons and scored 121 against India in WTC 2023 finals. At Lord's, his average increases to 58.33 and the last time he played at the ground during the 2023 Ashes, he scored a magnificent century.

Smith said that there was some extra bounce from the centre wicket at Beckenham where Australia had their initial training block, which felt like 'almost felt like we were playing at Perth stadium.'. He expects conditions to be different when preparations shift to Lord's on Sunday.

'I play a lot of back foot shots here, I do not tend to get too far forward to the ball. I try and score really square of the wicket. It kind of just suits me in a way. Hopefully can kick off where I left off the last couple of Tests that we played [in Sri Lanka],' he said.

After a breathtaking century at Lords's during 2023 Ashes, Smith had to wait 23 innings for his next and struggled with his game to the point that some called for him to be dropped. This was the longest wait for a century in his Test career. A part of it was due to his move to opening spot following retirement of David Warner, where he had mixed outings largely except for a resillient 91 in losing effort against West Indies at Brisbane. As soon as he moved down the order, Smith felt liberated, with four Tests in eight innings across series against India and Sri Lanka.

He admitted that during the Adelaide Test against India last year, when he scored just two runs off 11 after being removed by Jasprit Bumrah, was a rare moment when he felt some scrutiny.

'I feel like I have been in the team for a while and I have not felt under a great deal of pressure. Maybe a little bit after Adelaide last year was the most I have felt. And maybe [that's] why I came out the next game and was really, really hungry to get a good score in Brisbane. But that was external talk and things cross my desk all the time. People send me things that people are saying. So I do not know, maybe something clicked in me and I wanted to get back to the position of being a bit more comfortable again,' he said.

By then, Smith had adopted a less-is-more approach to training, which was further crystalised by a conversation with Michael Hussey early during the series against India.

'We are a bit older, we have hit a lot of balls. It is about having that mental side as switched on as it can be for the big moments. And you do not want to use up all your energy in the nets. There is a fine balance, of course. I am someone that needs to feel really prepared. And I do not want to leave any stone unturned in my preparation so that when I go to the middle, I am ready to play,' he said.

'But I have also got to realise that the older you get, the mental side I think probably wears a little bit thinner on you. And you have got to try and be in the best space you can be in the middle to bat for long periods of time. Sometimes I might get the balance wrong. But when you are hitting the ball well, you can sort of do what you want in terms of your preparation in a way. You can just let it be and trust that when you get to the middle, it is all going to be okay,' he concluded.

Pat Cummins-led Australia will be looking to retain the mace that they claimed after defeating India in the previous edition of the World Test Championship Final at the Oval in June 2023.

On the other side, a determined South Africa aim for their first ICC trophy in over two decades, with Temba Bavuma leading the charge.

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Beau Webster, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Matt Kuhnemann. Travelling reserve: Brendan Doggett. (ANI)