STEVE SMITH is ready to bat with black stickers under his eyes to help him see the pink ball in the Second Test.
Stand-in skipper Smith believes what is known as ‘eye black’ will reduce the glare when batting under floodlights in Brisbane.
Former West Indies star Shivnarine Chanderpaul – who scored 11,867 runs in 164 Tests – regularly used black tape.
But it is more familiar in the USA in sports such as American football and baseball.
Legendary baseball slugger Babe Ruth used eye black almost a century ago and seven-time Superbowl winner Tom Brady was a convert, too.
Maybe Smith has been influenced by the Americans because he spends most of his spare time in his apartment in New York.
He has been wearing eye black during Australia’s practice sessions before Thursday’s Second Test.
Smith’s friend and team-mate Marnus Labuschagne said: “There must be some sort of science or theory around it.
“I think it’s something to do with the glare, especially the glare coming up from the pitch. Maybe it helps pick the ball up better.
“I look at it either way – if there is science behind it or whether it is a placebo. If it doesn’t work but feels like it works then, both ways, it works.
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“I’d love nothing more than seeing Smudge stroll out with the Shivnarines and smacking the bowlers everywhere.”
The Aussies will be feeling confident after taking a fairly comfortable first test in Perth last month.
But it seems the lads are taking nothing for granted as they try to eke out every advantage that they can ahead of this weekend’s action.
