Smith’s open platform
Smudge pushed case to replace Warner with selectors
Steve Smith had pushed his case to be David Warner’s replacement as Test opener with selectors before he made the idea public.
But Australian coach Andrew McDonald says what the former captain offers at first or second drop must be taken into account before moving one of the nation’s all-time greats into an unfamiliar role as he enters the twilight of a glittering career.
Though competitive at stages, Pakistan was cast aside 3-0, shifting attention to the series against the West Indies, who on paper should offer even less competition. With the first Test against the
Windies beginning in Adelaide on January 17, Cricket Australia has indicated it will announce the squad for that match tomorrow.
The only serious question is who will replace the retiring Warner. There are several options, although it effectively boils down to whether to bring in a specialist opener in Marcus Harris, Matthew Renshaw or Cameron Bancroft, or to recall Cameron Green and move him or one of the other batters to the opening role.
Smith set tongues wagging when he told the ABC during the Sydney Test that he was keen to move from No.4 to partner Usman Khawaja in a shift that would allow allrounder Green back into the side. Though Smith’s comments may have come as a surprise to the public, McDonald, said that Smith had been canvassing support for a move in recent weeks.
“He’s mentioned it throughout the last couple of weeks. So yeah, he’s put his view forward. Consider all options,” McDonald, a selector along with George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide, said.
Smith’s willingness to move up the order, perhaps as a circuit-breaker to end his middling form, would in one respect solve a problem for Australia given the supposed reluctance of Travis Head, Mitch Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne to move from their respective roles.
But McDonald said it wasn’t necessarily that simple.
“He made those public so we’ll consider all options. So it’s nice to have him putting his hand up. I think there’s a few others that weren’t putting their hand up. Steve at three or four is pretty appetising also. So you’ve got to make sure you’re not removing the strengths of the team in the search to fill a gap also. So there’s a balance within that,” McDonald said.
“There’s many different ways to play as an opener. We’ve been lucky in having David Warner. Sometimes people who play that way aren’t exactly replaceable. There’s not another David Warner out there. And it was fantastic to see the way and the intent that he played with (in the SCG run chase against Pakistan), small and tricky run chase, that wasn’t easy, but the ability to put pressure back on to the bowler, it was a joy to watch in his final innings.
“So yeah, I mean, that’ll be considered in terms of what we look for in an opener.
“But it’s more so what we look for in the top seven batters. So you can have complementary skill sets within that and how they operate and function because no doubt you want some players within that order who are able to put pressure back on the bowler, and we’ve seen Travis Head do that with great success in the last 12 months or so.”