Steve Smith hits back at Jimmy Anderson's 'bullying comments'

Steve Smith has responded to Jimmy Anderson's comments about Aussie "bullying", describing the bowler as "one of the biggest sledgers in the game".

Anderson made his comments to a newspaper but, speaking on Friday, Smith hit back by saying: "I read the article, and it's interesting coming from Jimmy, calling us bullies and big sledgers. I think he's one of the biggest sledgers in the game, to be perfectly honest with you.

"To me in particular, I remember back in 2010 when I first started and wasn't any good, he was pretty happy to get stuck into me then. Pretty interesting coming from Jimmy."

In Anderson's column in the Daily Telegraph, the 35-year-old Burnley-born man said: "A bully waits until they are in the ascendancy to pounce on people. That is what Australian teams do.

"They are quiet when they are not on top, which was the case for the first three days of the Brisbane Test, and then on day four they came alive."

And England skipper Joe Root took a more general line on the subject, adding: "I think there's a place for a bit of banter out on the field, as long as it stays as banter and doesn't become more than that.

"And if it does, the umpires need to make sure it has a line that stops at the same place for both sides.

"You want there to be a bit of niggle and a bit of banter flying around. It's good for the game, it's good to watch, its good to be involved in.

"But there are certain things that people know they shouldn't say on the field and I think it's important that both sides, not just one side, get that right and don't overstep anymore. I think it's important we move on really.

"Our responsibility as players is to make sure that, for the rest of the series, cricket is the stuff that's spoken about - what we do on the field.

"That's got to be our focus, to come back this week and have that individual performance that Steve had in the first game - and have that effect on the series."