Australia’s national selector chief George Bailey has confirmed that Steve Smith will be playing in the middle order for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy bringing an end to his opener stint.
The development comes after Cricket Australia revealed the 14-member Australia squad led by Pat Cummins for Pakistan ODIs on October 14.
After David Warner’s retirement, Smith was promoted to the batting lineup in tests. However, the 35-year-old did not have an impressive outing, as he amassed 171 runs at 28.50 which raised concerns over him playing the role of an opener.
With Cameron Green’s injury setback he sustained during the England tour, Bailey confirmed that Steve Smith’s request to move back to the middle order has resulted in the seasoned batter slotting to the middle order.
“Pat, Andrew and Steve Smith had been having ongoing conversations, separate to the untimely injury to Cameron (Green),” Bailey told media.
The chair of selectors has made his position clear! #AUSvIND https://t.co/BGEUjnY71O
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 14, 2024
“And I think Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position. Pat and Andrew have confirmed that he will be dropping back down the order for the summer. So, yeah, clearly we’ve got a No. 4 spot to fill and an opening spot to fill,” said Bailey on Steve Smith’s position in the batting line up.
Bailey did not fix that Steve Smith would slot in at No.4 for the first test against India which starts on November 22 in Perth, but he was careful that Cummins and McDonald will be deciding the batting order.
Bailey added that Steve Smith’s de-promotion in the batting order of Green’s injury but he would not divulge how they would have configured the top six had Green been fit to play.
“Part of those discussions have been had and what it might look like,” he said. “But I guess once you do get moving parts, a lot of those conversations become null and void.”
Australia will be looking for a suitable opener for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy. Bailey was asked whether the need for an extra bowling option in the top six was necessary given Green’s absence and queries over Mitchell Marsh’s bowling capabilities.
“They’ve done it in the past,” Bailey said. “You don’t know how each Test is going to play out in terms of the workload for the quicks, or how much of an impact Nathan Lyon’s going to have across the summer.”
“We certainly have been and will continue preparing for Mitch Marsh to be able to bowl some overs as well, and that’s been part of his management and build for the last couple of months.”
“So there’s other ways. Some teams have played, and we’ve been a team that has played, without an allrounder in the past. There’s more than one way to structure up a team.”
Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas will feature for Australia A in two FC matches against India A. “He’s in the mix as are plenty of others. I certainly don’t want to single single him out.”
“I think the consistency of Cam Bancroft over a number of years, the consistency of Marcus Harris over a number of years, they’ve both had a look at Test cricket as well. So I don’t think there’s any need at this stage to put undue pressure expectation on Sam,” said George Bailey.
“He’s five games into his first-class career. He’s had a good start to that, and he certainly looks like he’s got a well organized game that we’re really excited and looking forward to seeing at the A level, and we’ll just continue to watch as that progresses.”
Coming to the tournament, The first match of the Australia-India Tests will begin on November 22 at Optus Stadium.
