Kane Williamson plays the ball bit later than anyone else, opines Steve Smith

After four long years, New Zealand are set to tour Australia again for a three-match Test series, starting December 12. The first Test will be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth and it will be Day-Night fixture. Ahead of the Trans-Tasman clash, Steve Smith has praised the batting of the New Zealand skipper and drawn parallels to his own batting style.

"I think we actually hold the bat reasonably similarly. He has got quite a closed grip. I like that in test cricket, personally. It just helps playing the ball a bit later and I think he plays it a bit later than anybody else in the world," Smith told reporters in Perth on Monday, according to cricket.com.au.

After speculations over MCG’s pitch quality and the recent incident of a Sheffield Shield match being abandoned after several Western Australia batsmen sustained blows to the body from good length deliveries that shoot up at them, Cricket Australia reiterated that a different pitch will be used for the second Test against New Zealand starting on December 26. They have decided to still stick with MCG curator Matt Page.

Australian batting maestro Steve Smith also reverberated Board’s decision to stick with the existing curator.

"He's a good curator and he'll be doing what he can to get us a good wicket for Boxing Day," Smith added.

It is not the first time the consecrated stadium has come under the scrutiny for its pitch quality. A lifeless MCG pitch got a "poor" rating from the governing in 2017 followed by an "average" rating for last year’s match against India where the tourists took 20 wickets to comprehensively win the match.

Barring the negative aspects associated with the stadium, Smith put out his feelings of taking guard on 26th December on his very happy hunting ground.

"I'd love for it to stay, it's part of the tradition of Australian cricket for a long time. The Boxing Day Test in Melbourne is something I look forward to every year. It's a great occasion and I would love for Melbourne to keep it."