Last Updated on 14 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey

Steve Smith returns to Cape Town with a few storylines hanging over him ahead of the deciding Test against South Africa.

The obvious one is a return to the scene of sandpapergate, but Smith’s form this series is another key talking point. He is yet to cross 30, suffering a concussion scare in Durban before being hampered by a neck issue in Gqeberha.

However, his second innings dismissal was not met with sympathy from fans as Australia were trying to hold on for a draw. Smith attempted a pull shot to a Kagiso Rabada delivery outside offstump, only managing to sky a catch to Matthew Breetzke at midwicket. The visitors went on to lose by an innings and 31 runs in a Test heavily affected by rain.

Travis Head backs Steve Smith to deliver after quiet first two Tests against South Africa

Travis Head has backed Australia – and Smith in particular – to bounce back. The great batsman, who notched up his 11,000th Test run, has often stepped up when the stakes are at its highest. Head also expects Smith to handle any crowd attention with minimal fuss.

“He’ll be fine. I think he showed that in ’19 in England [the Ashes],” Head said of Smith, as quoted by cricket.com.au. “It’d be nice to have a crowd. I’m hearing good things about Cape Town – a good atmosphere is always good.

“We support him. I think he’s been through a lot in that space. I think he handles it well. Sometimes it brings the best out of him, as we’ve seen in the past.

“I know he’s been in the wars. He’ll rest up in the next few days, and I think he’ll be fine.”

Australia’s batting is in the spotlight once again. Their performance in Gqeberha is arguably this group’s most disappointing, losing 19 wickets in the final two days to surrender their series lead.

Also, Australia have struggled to produce runs as a unit in recent times. If their last four Tests are anything to go by, it’s usually one player standing out with a bigger score, whether it’s Cameron Green (Darwin and Mackay), Matt Renshaw (Durban) or Head himself in the last Test.

The opener revealed that a more collective effort is a key topic of discussion within the group.

“We’ve spoken as a group going into this series that we’ve sort of had one individual each time – and they’ve always been different individuals – but we haven’t been able to get that collective batting day that we would desire as a team,” Head said.

“If you look through it – you look at Greeny in Darwin, Mackay, we batted once and (210) was enough for two innings (to win). Then you look at last week with ‘Renners’ (Renshaw) and the game he had.

“This game (in Gqeberha) I was able to step up and get runs – but it’s always been one individual at a time and we haven’t been able to get that collective. We talked about that (going) into this series.”

Australia have a huge task on their hands to win the Cape Town Test. South Africa will be buoyed by their victory in Gqeberha, and the Aussie top order in particular has a key role to play in setting up a platform.