Champ in Cup audition
Steve Smith has a maximum three matches to convince national selectors he deserves a spot in Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup squad, with this week’s white-ball series in New Zealand his final audition ahead of the tournament.
Australia only has three T20I matches scheduled before June’s World Cup in the West Indies and US, the first of which gets underway at Wellington’s Basin Reserve tonight.
Smith, who was not selected for the recent T20 series against the West Indies, may only get one or two opportunities to press his case against the Black Caps this week, otherwise he risks missing out on a ticket to the Caribbean. If he’s not selected for the T20 World Cup, there’s a genuine chance he could retire from the format.
The New South Welshman, arguably Australia’s best Test batsman since Sir Donald Bradman, was dropped from the national T20 side in 2022 following a lean period with the bat in the game’s shortest format. Mitchell Marsh had taken over his preferred No.3 position, while T20 globetrotter Tim David successfully slotted into the middle order.
However, Smith bashed down the door for a recall during last summer’s Big Bash League campaign with the Sydney Sixers, blasting twin centuries against Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder. It meant that when former Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch retired from T20 cricket, Smith was one of the leading candidates to replace him in the starting XI.
Since the start of the Covid pandemic, Smith’s T20I strike rate sits at 116.71, lower than any of his teammates in New Zealand. Although he has predominantly served at the team’s ‘Mr Fix It’ during that period, middle-order anchors are gradually becoming obsolete in the T20 format.