Australian national cricket team’s star batter Steve Smith wasn’t able to assert his dominance in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand which the visitors won by 2-0. Steve Smith looked in two minds whether to attack or defend and by doing that he got into the shell and he wasn’t able to tackle the new ball which hurt the team massively.
It won’t be wrong to say that the wicket of Steve Smith gives the opposition team massive boost and confidence. New Zealand almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Australia in the 2nd Test match. The Aussies will have to rethink whether Steve Smith can fill the shoes of David Warner as an opener.
Andrew McDonald backs Steve Smith to perform well against India in BGT 2024-25
Andrew McDonald was having an interaction with the reporters after the conclusion of the 2nd Test match against New Zealand. Andrew McDonald made it very clear that they can’t judge Steve Smith’s performance as an opening batter on the basis of 4 Test matches (*2 against Caribbean and 2 against New Zealand).
“It’s a new challenge for him (Smith), it’s a new position. If you’re bringing in a new opener and you gave them four Test matches, and then said, ‘Okay, we’re going to shift that after four Test matches,’ would you think that’s fair or unfair? I think that’s reasonably unfair … for Test matches, this is still a rather small sample size,” said Andrew McDonald.
Options aplenty for Australia
Cricket Australia’s (CA) chief selector George Bailey should be questioned that why Steve Smith is opening the batting when they already have the services of Matt Renshaw & Cameron Green. Matt Renshaw had made his Test cricket debut way back in 2016 and Cameron Bancroft did in 2018 as these two are somewhat experienced and most importantly will allow Steve Smith to guide the batters in the middle order.
Australia’s next Test series challenge is against India in BGT 2024-25 in November and for the first time, the two sides will play 5 Test match series in Australia. It will be interesting to see how CA manage the workload of the trio Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood & skipper Pat Cummins. The Men in Blue have an upper hand who have won 2 back to back Test series in Australia