Steven Smith’s Test opening stint over with middle-order return for India

Steven Smith won’t open the batting against India in the Border-Gavaskar series with Australia’s chair of selectors George Bailey confirming that Smith had indicated his desire to move back down the order, and that it was set to be accommodated even prior to Cameron Green’s injury.

Speculation had swirled around Smith’s batting position dating back to Australia’s last Test series against New Zealand in March after his eight innings at the top of the order had yielded just 171 runs at 28.50.

Despite Smith making the initial request to open the batting back in January, which allowed for Green to slot in at No. 4, Bailey confirmed that Smith, in conversations with captain Pat Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald, had requested a move back to the middle-order prior to Green’s summer-ending back injury.

“Pat, Andrew and Steven Smith had been having ongoing conversations separate to the untimely injury to Cameron anyway,” Bailey said on Monday after the announcement of the ODI squad for the Pakistan series and the Australia A squad for the India A tour.

“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.”

Bailey did not rubberstamp that Smith would slot in at No. 4 for the first Test against India which starts on November 22 in Perth and was careful to reiterate that Cummins and McDonald were the ones who decided the batting order. He added that the order was still not set in stone given there is five weeks to go before the first ball is bowled.

Bailey did hint that Smith would have moved regardless of Green’s injury but he would not divulge how they would have configured the top six had Green been fit to play.

“Part of those discussions have been had and what it might look like,” he said. “But I guess once you do get moving parts, a lot of those conversations become null and void.”

Time for a specialist opener?

It seems very likely that Australia’s selectors will pick an opener to replace Green and return Smith to his preferred position. Bailey was asked whether the need for an extra bowling option in the top six was necessary, given Green’s absence and queries over Mitchell Marsh’s bowling capabilities. But he was quick to note that Australia’s attack had played without an allrounder before.

“They’ve done it in the past,” Bailey said. “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. So there’s other ways. There’s teams that have played, and we’ve been a team that has played, without an allrounder in the past. There’s more than one way to structure up a team.”

All eyes then turn to Australia’s domestic openers to see which one will emerge from the pack to win a place alongside Usman Khawaja. Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and New South Wales’ teen sensation Sam Konstas were the three openers named in the 17-man Australia A squad that will face India A in two four-day games starting on October 31 and November 7.

“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, 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 expectation on Sam.”

George Bailey on Sam Konstas’ chances of a Test call-up

Matt Renshaw, who was the reserve batter in the Test squad for Australia’s last two series against West Indies and New Zealand following David Warner’s retirement, was not named in the A squad but Bailey said it should be taken to mean they have moved on from him.

“No, we still really like Matt’s ability to play,” Bailey said. “As far as Australia A selection goes, part of the process around that is trying to identify opportunities that may come around in the short term for any opportunities that that might pop up, but also making sure that we do keep an eye on developing opportunities for those players who may become important in different roles in the future as well.

“So whilst there’s an Australia A squad there, I think Matt Renshaw, Pete Handscomb, Nic Maddinson as three examples are guys who we’ll continue to watch really closely in Shield cricket.”

Bailey did suggest that the 19-year-old Konstas could put himself in the mix for the opening slot for India if he continues to perform following his twin centuries in the opening Shield round.

“He’s in the mix as are plenty of others,” Bailey said. “I certainly don’t want to single single him out. I think the consistency of Cam Bancroft over a number of years, 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 expectation on Sam.

“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.”

Bailey also noted that Bancroft’s untimely pair against Queensland in the opening round of the Shield season would not count against him.

“I spoke to Cam after that game, I sort of jokingly said to him, if he [wasn’t] in such good nick, he might have played and missed those as well,” Bailey said. “So that might be a really good sign for the rest of the summer. There’s plenty of batters that have managed to get a feather on an early Michael Neser ball. So no harm done. He’s certainly got credits in the bank. His consistency over a number of years has been phenomenal, as have a number of those other players I’ve mentioned. A one-off game like that wasn’t going to have any impact.”