Melbourne: Launching a stinging rebuke at Graeme Smith's recent claims about Australia's team culture, skipper Steve Smith has questioned former South African captain's right to make such call about his side.
"I'm not sure what Graeme Smith knows about Australian cricket," Smith said on the eve of the second Test of the three-match series against South Africa beginning from Saturday in Hobart.
Following Australia's massive 177-run defeat at the hands of the Proteas in the opening Test in Perth, Graeme had said that the culture of the Australian team appears to be in turmoil before raising questions about the administration of the game in the country.
Graeme, who captained South Africa in 108 Tests, had further said Australia had placed themselves in an interesting position after five-straight defeats.
"I was quite surprised at some of the selections (in the Australian squad) that came to South Africa for the one-day series (last month) and that hurt them badly - they lost 5-0 he had then said.
"The way they collapsed and fell away in that Perth Test to me showed that maybe there is a lack of confidence or self-belief or fighting in that set-up at the moment" he added.
Hitting back over his namesake's claims, the Australian skipper said that his side are in a good place at the moment despite their losing sequence.
"We've got a good culture built on constant improvement and getting better. The guys are in a good place, we're a tight-knit group and we're ready to hopefully turn this around this week," the 27-year-old was quoted as saying by ‘cricket.com.au’.
Earlier, South Africa's stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis had refused to wade into the debate.
"I'm always of the position if you don't know what's exactly going on inside anything you can't comment on it. I definitely can't comment on the Australian culture (but) from the outside it looks the same as always," du Plessis had said.
