Australian batter Steve Smith is likely to miss Australia’s opening match against New Zealand in the ongoing ICC T20 world Cup 2022 tournament, indicates Australia’s Chairman of Selectors George Bailey.
George Bailey on Australian Playing 11
Steve Smith who got a chance in playing 11 against India in a warmup game scored just 11 runs and failed to prove his worth.
“I think all the members of our 15 have a role to play but I don’t think that will be starting in the 11 for Steve,” Bailey said. “I think that… should we need a role from him at some stage, then absolutely.”
George Bailey Praises Mitchell Marsh
On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh who opened the game with captain Aaron Finch scored 35 runs and made a descent partnership with Finch.
Bailey was noncommittal on Mitchell Marsh though. “I think he bowled 20 to 30 balls with pretty good intensity in the nets yesterday.
“He is tracking well. I don’t think it is any secret that our allrounders are an important part of our structure.
“I think he has hit all the markers that he wanted to but I think given the importance of that structure it is not something we wanted to risk too early but I fully expect that Mitch will be available and ready to go, whether that is Saturday or game two.”
Bailey said that David Warner, who sat out of the warm-up match against India, was doing fine after copping a neck strain in the series against England.
Australia who was in need of 11 runs in the final over failed to score the target after Shami bagged four wickets off the over and led India to win the match by 6 runs.
Post te match, Australian captain Aaron Finch says: “We learned that we need to be clinical towards the back-end, we didn’t capitalize towards the end. We did drag them back after that blistering start from KL, happy with my own form”.
“He’s fantastic (on Kane Richardson), every opportunity he gets for Australia, he’s there performing, that shows the depth of our pace bowling unit. 22nd will be a great day, looking to start off on a winning note, playing against New Zealand and at the SCG will be always special”, he added.
