David Warner’s retirement from cricket has toiled hard on Australia at least in Test cricket. Australia have moved probably their best batter, Steve Smith, to the opening position but this has only increased the worries for them. Not only has Smith, so far, failed to play as impactfully as he does often, but the lack of runs up top has been causing trouble for the team as a whole. Australia are a couple of months away from facing the team that is likely to be their toughest opponent in this World Test Championship cycle, India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Before the BGT, Australia would want to solve their opening problems or hope that, somehow, Smooth really does start firing.
Australia’s other opener, Usman Khawaja, has some other suggestions for the team selectors as well as Smith himself. The left-handed batter hopes for his teammate to return to his original position, number four, which is traditionally the most important place in a Test team.
“He will just probably never say it. So I will say it for him. Opening is a very important spot (but) I still think we have the best Test player of my era in the side, Steve Smith, and his best spot has been number four. I feel like that’s his best spot. I feel like the best balance for our team is (Marnus) Labuschagne three, Smith four. For me, the number one consideration is ‘what’s best for the team?’. What order scores us the most runs? And if you look at how many runs we scored with Davey Warner in the team and Smudge (Steve Smith) batting at four, we scored a lot of runs,” the 37-year-old said.
He also said that while Smith’s batting at the top has not caused many issues for the team, it is a waste of opportunities for him to bat at a place that does not suit him.
“With Smudge opening, we’ve still won games, but I don’t think we’ve scored as many runs as we could’ve. And when things are in his favour, he’s almost unstoppable,”
This begs the question, who will, then, open for Australia in case Smith returns to his original position? Khawaja has come up with a solution to that as well. He thinks Travis Head’s white-ball incredible shows make him a good contender to do the same in the longer format as well.
“At the end of the day, it’s a decision for the selectors. But if you have me opening, Labuschagne three, Smith four, I feel like Travis Head might be best suited. He’s obviously been very successful opening the batting in one-day cricket and, breaking it down, I’d probably lean towards him,”
It is not news to anyone that Smith has shown obvious signs of struggles batting at the top. Besides a 91 not out against West Indies at home, the right-handed batter has not crossed even 20 runs in the remaining seven innings. His dismal outings at number one have also caused his average to take a dip as well.
Australia and India will play a four-Test match Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under starting on November 22. Currently, both teams occupy the top two positions at the WTC table, with India leading.
