Follow UsSteven Smith has revealed that Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne “hated” him opening the innings in Test cricket, and said he didn’t request anyone to return to his old No.4 position and would have continued to open. In a major development last week, Australia’s national selection chair George Bailey confirmed that Smith will bat at No.4 in the forthcoming five-Test series against India, putting an end to speculation about the 35-year-old’s batting position.
Despite averaging 61.50 batting at No.4, Smith willingly volunteered to open the batting after the retirement of David Warner. He struck an unbeaten 91 in the fourth innings in just his second Test as an opener, but the right-hander endured a poor series away in New Zealand, where he registered scores of 31, 0, 11 & 9.
"I got asked where I'd prefer to bat, and I said four. I didn't ask (to move) though. I also said I'm happy batting wherever. I'm not really too fussed. I got asked where my preference would be, and I said four. I saw a few things last week saying that I've requested to bat at four. That wasn't the case. I said I'm happy to bat wherever you'd like me to bat but, yeah, four would be my ideal position,” Smith said on the sidelines of New South Wales’ Shield match against Victoria.
"Obviously, there's a spot there now with Greeny (Cameron Green) out. And I think just conversations we had after New Zealand with particularly Marnus and Uzi, they hated me up top, to be honest. They wanted me behind them. They just like the...they call it security behind them, in a way. They were pretty strong on me not batting there. So that was a big part of it. And then obviously, I've got a decent record at four.
"It was good fun having a crack at something new, batting up top. I still feel like I could do a job there for sure. It was a pretty small sample size. But I've done pretty well at four for a number of years now. I feel like it's probably where I can have my best input for this team at the moment."
Smith said he isn’t too worried about going back to No.4. "Honestly, I'm not that fussed. I said it when I took that job, I'm not really fussed where I bat. The conversations I had with the other guys, they didn't like it at all. They wanted some security, I suppose, behind them, where I've done really well for a number of years, and I can understand that as well. So it is what it is and I'm not going to be opening this summer. That's it."
Making his Sheffield Shield return against Victoria, Smith could only manage 3 off 29 deliveries but said he strangely felt pretty good out there in the middle. "I actually felt pretty good out there, to be honest, for the three that I scored strangely enough. I felt like I was moving well. I was leaving well, and got a little bit unlucky with the one that sort of took off a little bit down the leg side. And that can happen. But I actually felt like I was getting in nice positions. My bat path was good and felt pretty good. So happy with that."
So, if not Smith, who will open the batting alongside Khawaja?
"There's a few really good candidates, guys that have, done really well the last few years. (Cameron) Bancroft and the usual suspects that have been talked about. Maddo (Nic Maddinson) I think is also another really good candidate. He's had a good couple of years. If you're looking for someone similar to a Davey replacement, he gets after the ball and can score really quickly.
"So he's someone who probably hasn't been spoken about a great deal from all you guys in the last little bit, but I think he's someone that could definitely play test cricket and have a similar impact to what Davey sort of had at the top, the way he plays. So plenty of options. We'll wait and see."
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