Australia’s premier batter, Steve Smith has cleared the air as to why he decided to move back down to his usual batting spot at number four. The ace batter clarified that he was willing to bat anywhere in the order but returning to his usual spot would have been the best choice for the team.
Rather than asking to make the switch back to his usual position, Smith clarified that he was asked his preference between opening the batting and the number four position.
“I got asked where I’d prefer to bat, and I said four … I also said I’m happy batting wherever, I’m not too fussed,” the star batter told reporters on Monday at stumps on day two of NSW’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria,” Smith revealed as quoted by Cricket.com.au.
The 35-year-old batting star also revealed the conversation he had with the skipper and the Head Coach regarding his preferences where he mentioned that he would be willing to bat anywhere.
“I got asked (by Cummins, McDonald) 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,” he shared.
Reflecting on his time at the top of the order, Smith was pleased with how it went despite his performances not being up to his standards as he still believes that he can do the job if necessary.
“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,” he commented.
“But I’ve done pretty well at four for many years now. I feel like it’s probably where I can have my best input for this team at the moment,” he concluded.
In the four games Smith opened the batting, he finished with 171 runs scored at an average of 28.6 with one fifty. In comparison to his overall record which consists of 9685 runs scored in 109 Tests at an average of 56.97 with 41 half-centuries and 32 tons.
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