A yearning for “normal cricket” has compelled Steve Smith to open the batting for Australia,as he seeks a way out of the cycle of short balls,negative tactics and slow scoring.
If it’s not doing anything beyond backing the senior players’ decisions,when is it time for the selection panel to be formally dissolved,consigned to the irrelevance it has so eagerly embraced?
Many great players have moved in the batting order later in their careers,but more often than not it has been down. Smith will reinforce his greatness if he can defy gravity.
Test great Matt Hayden is convinced Australia won’t give Steve Smith the keys to open the batting against the West Indies next week. Here’s why.
Now that David Warner has officially farewelled Test cricket,selectors have a big call to make on the veteran opener’s successor.
Steve Smith began privately lobbying the Australian selectors for consideration to become Usman Khawaja’s opening partner some weeks before David Warner’s final Test match.
Steve Smith has made the surprising admission that he’d be “pretty keen” to open the batting for Australia if selectors asked him.
Their importance to the team will be magnified by the fact whoever replaces David Warner will struggle to match his output.
Playing his second-last Test,David Warner says Marcus Harris should be next in line to replace him,after making 38 of Australia’s 3-187 in the second Test against Pakistan.
Travis Head has been named alongside Steve Smith as a vice captain of the Test team,putting him in line to become Pat Cummins’ successor as skipper.
Champion batter Steve Smith has no plans to follow David Warner in hanging up the baggy green this season,as he heads into the home Test summer in a lean run of form by his own impeccably high standards.