David Warner bade adieu to Test cricket earlier this year in Sydney against Pakistan. That meant Australia needed to recruit someone to fill his opening position. However, to everyone’s surprise, Australia’s number four batter, Steve Smith, seized the opportunity to open for the Kangaroos. That sounds more outrageous when one thinks that Smith was averaging just slightly shy of 62 at number four. But given his brilliance as a batter, no one had any doubts about the right-handed dominating every position he chose to bat at.
Things, however, have been far from ideal for the Sydney-born since he moved up the order. In the four Test matches he has batted as an opener since January, his average has been a paltry 28.5, with only one 50+ score that too at home. This has made people think maybe he was not a good option for an opener in the first place. The same notion is shared by his opening partner and Australian veteran batter, Usman Khawaja. Khawaja said while talking to Fox Cricket that he prefers Steve Smith coming into bat at the all-important number four position.
“I’m not sure what the top six is going to be this summer. I’ve always loved Steve Smith batting at No. 4, I haven’t shied away from that. I know Steve Smith can score runs at one, two, three, four, five, or six, but the man averages 60 at four, so my preference has always been Smudge (Smith) at four,” Khawaja mentioned.
“I love seeing him come in at No. 4 … you get two wickets, and who do you get walking in? The best batsman in the world. When you put him up to open, I feel like you’re kind of giving them a chance to get at him early,” he further added.
Smith himself, however, does not carry the same notion. He has been insistent upon opening from the start and feels it’s just about time before he will start taking the bowlers to cleaners at this position as well. While speaking to Code Sports, the right-hander batter said that currently, he is indifferent to all the debates about his batting position, though he did agree he has not been able to translate his potential fully in the opening position.
“(I had to face) some challenging conditions with the new ball, in particular. So I would have liked to score a few more runs,” Smith was quoted as saying.
“But I played pretty well in the second innings at the Gabba where we couldn’t get over the line, unfortunately. It’s just a position to me so it doesn’t really faze me too much.”
After all, in all fairness, four Test matches are too small of a sample size to make inferences about a batter of Smith’s pomp. Australian management shares the same opinion. George Bailey, former Australian cricketer, and Chief Selector, has hinted that Smith will not be moved back to his original number four position for the forthcoming edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in November this year.
