Steve Smith restored to middle-order, won’t open against India in BGT, confirms National Selector Bailey

Melbourne [Australia], October 14 (ANI): Australia’s National Selector George Bailey confirmed that Steven Smith has been restored to his spot in the middle order for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy against India, bringing an end to his short-lived stint as Aussie opener in the Test format.

Smith was promoted to the role of an opener following David Warner’s retirement. However, the 35-year-old had a forgettable run, as he could only garner 171 runs at 28.50, which raised concerns over him playing the role of an opener.

His position in the playing XI was up for debate after the conclusion of Australia’s last Test against New Zealand.

Now, Cameron Green’s recent injury setback and Bailey confirming Smith’s request to move back to the middle order has resulted in the seasoned batter slotting to the middle order.

“Pat, Andrew and Steve Smith had been having ongoing conversations, separate to the untimely injury to Cameron (Green),” Bailey told reporters as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“And I think Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position. Pat and Andrew have confirmed that he will be dropping back down the order for the summer. So, yeah, clearly we’ve got a No. 4 spot to fill and an opening spot to fill,” he added.

With Smith moving down the order, Australia need to figure out the right sort of player to step up with five weeks left before the first ball is bowled in the BGT series in Perth on November 22.

Given Green ruled out of the series, the question of a player featuring in the top six who is capable of bowling was put in front of Bailey.

With concerns lingering over Mitchell Marsh’s capability to bowl, Bailey was quick to remind that Australia have played without an all-rounder in their setup.

“They’ve done it in the past. You don’t know how each Test is going to play out in terms of the workload for the quicks or how much of an impact Nathan Lyon’s going to have across the summer. We certainly have been and will continue preparing for Mitch Marsh to be able to bowl some overs as well, and that’s been part of his management and build for the last couple of months,” Bailey said

“So there’s other ways. There’s teams that have played, and we’ve been a team that has played without an all-rounder in the past. There’s more than one way to structure up a team,” he added.

Before the beginning of the five Tests, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and New South Wales’ teen star Sam Konstas will feature for Australia A in two first-class matches against India A.

Bancroft has been eying a return to Australia’s Test fold since 2019, but Konsta’s recent form could give him an edge over the experienced batter.

Konstas joined legends Ricky Ponting and Don Bradman to be among the youngest players to hit twin Sheffield Shield centuries.

Konstas became the third youngest player to hit Shield Cricket twin tons in the same match during his side New South Wales’ match against South Australia.

“He’s in the mix as are plenty of others. I certainly don’t want to single single him out. I think the consistency of Cam Bancroft over a number of years and the consistency of Marcus Harris over a number of years, they’ve both had a look at Test cricket as well. So I don’t think there’s any need at this stage to put undue pressure expectations on Sam,” Bailey said while talking about the youngsters’ chances of getting selected.

“He’s five games into his first-class career. He’s had a good start to that, and he certainly looks like he’s got a well-organized game that we’re really excited and looking forward to seeing at the A level, and we’ll just continue to watch as that progresses,” he added.