Steve Smith, regarded as a modern-era great, has scored 9.320 runs in 102 Tests at an average of 58.61, including 32 hundreds and 39 fifties.
Despite a poor run in the longest format by his own tremendous standards, star Australian hitter Steve Smith will not retire from Test cricket this season because he is still “talking about things he wants to achieve.” According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Smith’s manager Warren Craig has confirmed that the top batter will not follow David Warner into retirement. Warner will retire from Test cricket after the third Test against Pakistan at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) next year.
“At this moment in time, I can debunk that (retirement). “He’s still talking about things he wants to accomplish,” Smith’s manager told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Smith, regarded as a modern-era great, has scored 9.320 runs in 102 Tests at an average of 58.61, including 32 centuries and 39 fifties. He also has 5,356 runs at an average of 43.54 in 155 ODIs, with 12 centuries and 32 fifties.
However, Australia’s best batter has had a difficult year. Smith has performed admirably in 11 Tests this year, scoring 777 runs at a 43.16 average, with three hundreds and two fifties in 20 innings. Though these stats are impressive, they are still insufficient for a hitter who has made a habit of averaging in the 50s and 60s in whites throughout the years.
Smith has scored 439 runs in 16 One-Day Internationals at an average of 31.35 and a strike rate of over 83, with three half-centuries in 15 innings and a best score of 74. Despite winning Australia’s sixth ICC Cricket World Cup, Smith was lackluster throughout the tournament, hitting 302 runs in 10 matches at an average of 33.55, with two fifties.
The ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States next June are among the aims being discussed. Smith will be seeking to become Australia the first side in history to hold all three major ICC trophies at the same time, including the World Test Championship and the 50-over Cricket World Cup.
Smith also has a huge home bilateral series against India coming up, when he will have to be at his best if Australia is to revenge their series losses to India in 2019 and 2021.
Next season, Smith might become only the fourth Australian player to reach 10,000 runs on home soil.
Back in January, the batter fueled speculation about his future when he stated during the Sydney Test against South Africa that he is dubious about playing another match in whites at home.
Smith may be commencing his decline, as he produced 518 runs across 17 innings at an average of 34.53 in two high-profile series against India in subcontinent conditions and the Ashes against England, including a century and two fifties in nine matches.
Despite scoring a century in the ICC World Test Championship final, Smith passed up opportunities to emerge as Australia’s big-match star in Tests at Delhi, Headingley, The Oval, and the ICC Cricket World Cup final.
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has not ruled out Smith having another golden run, but has cautioned that batsmen do not tend to progress in their mid-thirties.
“It does not mean they are done, but normally you have seen their best by then,” Taylor went on to say. “The early 30s would be the purple patch for most players,” he went on to say.
Smith has a potential to score a lot of runs at home against Pakistan and the West Indies, but he is someone who needs major challenges to bring out his best.
Four years ago, after triumphantly returning from suspension due to the ‘Sandpapergate’ ball-tampering controversy during the Ashes series on English soil, he was unable to make centuries against New Zealand and Pakistan at home.
“He had that extra motivation to prove he would come back an even better player – and on pitches that did a bit,” Taylor told reporters. “He did that, and funnily enough he came back on the Australian summer and did not make a lot of runs,” Taylor said.
