Steve Smith's classy act for Joe Root after humiliating Ashes loss
Steve Smith has offered some words of encouragement for rival Ashes skipper Joe Root after Australia's crushing win in the second Test.
The critics are circling Root after England crashed to a 275-run loss to Australia at the Adelaide Oval, which follows their nine-wicket loss in the series opener in Brisbane.
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Root's team is now tasked with becoming only the second team ever - after Don Bradman's 1936/37 Australians - to win an Ashes series from 2-0 down.
Amid the euphoria of victory on Monday night, Smith showed his class when he expressed empathy for Root.
"It's tough captaining a team when you're not winning games of cricket, simple as that," Smith said.
"There is always going to be critics out there and they're going to critique your performance as a captain."
Smith, who will hand back the Australian captaincy to Pat Cummins for the Boxing Day Test, also offered some tips to the English skipper.
"For him, the best advice I could say is just trust yourself, back yourself and do whatever you can to help the team grow and be as successful as you can be," he said.
"Sometimes as a captain you get outplayed by the opposition and there's not a great deal you can do.
"But just reflecting and seeing what you can do better or how you can improve is always important. That is part of being a player or a leader.
"We have always got to strive to be better and improve."
Steve Smith's warning to rival captain Joe Root
But Smith also warned that Root could expect to face a lot more bowling from Cameron Green in the looming Tests, with the tall all-rounder claiming his wicket twice already.
"In England I think you can play with that open face and score a lot of runs behind the wicket because the wickets don't have that bounce," Smith said of Root's technique.
"Australia does have that extra bounce.
"He did seem to play our other fast bowlers pretty well, I think Cameron Green is the only one with that extra bit of bounce that has been able to unsettle him perhaps a little bit outside of that off stump.
"But he has looked pretty good each time he has come to the wicket, to be fair.
"He is a quality player and we're going to have to continue to keep the pressure on him and bowl good balls consistently."
Meanwhile, Root is refusing to give up on England's Ashes campaign despite going 2-0 down.
"You have to be able to put the ball in the right areas for long enough," Root said.
"You have to be able to score big runs, and if there's chances, you have to take them.
"The frustration within our dressing room is that we have missed out or we're not quite executing those basic things well enough for the second game in a row.
"And we need to respond very quickly."
with AAP
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