Cummins said he would talk to Smith in the next week or so about the batting order but claimed he was not in favour of moving players around given the settled and largely successful nature of the order. Australia have a two-Test series against the West Indies in Adelaide and Brisbane during the second half of January.

“The selectors are catching up tonight[Saturday] or tomorrow around the one-day squads and obviously the next Test match,so I haven’t had too many long conversations with them,” Cummins said.

“But obviously Marn[Labuschagne],Smudge[Smith],Trav[Head] and even Marshy[Mitch Marsh] in more recent tours have been pretty impressive at three,four,five and six,and Kez[Alex Carey] at seven. My first instance isn’t probably to disrupt that,but we’ll work it out.

“I’m pretty happy with his[Smith’s] output at No.4. If he’s desperate to bat up the order,well,maybe we’re open to it. So we’ll work through that,but I feel like there’s enough challenges in Test cricket wherever you bat.

“But I think even the World Cup was a really good lesson in no one owns a spot in the batting order. Just like some days we might mix up who opens the bowling. So yeah,it’s good that people are open to try new things.”

Cummins supported Warner’s view that his replacement doesn’t need to be a traditional opening batsman,pointing to Usman Khawaja’s remarkable revival at the top of the order since his recall two years ago. Khawaja was easily the leading Test run-scorer in the world during 2023 with 1210 runs at an average of 53.

“I don’t think you have to pick an opener who opens the batting in[Sheffield] Shield cricket,” Cummins said. “Marnus and Smithy have walked out pretty early on in the game. They showed that they can play the swinging ball,they can be an opening bat. The same goes for other guys who bat in the middle order. I don’t think there’s a hard-and-fast rule.

“Uzzie was batting at four for his Shield side when he came up[the order] and he’s been just about the best opening batter in the world over the last couple of years.”