Last Update on: August 11th, 2023 at 03:08 pm
Former Australian keeper Tim Paine has responded to Michael Clarke’s comment on Steve Smith selection’s in T20Is. He said that the latter is a great player and will be having a great chance in South Africa to make his case strong in T20Is.
Steve Smith was named in the Australian squad for the three-match T20I series against South Africa. Chief selector George Bailey mentioned that the batter will be opening the innings alongside David Warner in that series and various reports suggested that he’s in plans for the T20 World Cup 2024 as well.
Bailey mentioned that Steve Smith’s back-to-back centuries in BBL were the main reason why they are tempted to promote him as an opener of the team. But after the team’s selection, Michael Clarke wasn’t amazed by his selection and said that he doesn’t understand why they picked him as he wasn’t even in the playing XI of the last T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE.
Tim Paine touted Steve Smith as a great player and while hitting back at Michael Clarke revealed why the batter didn’t get a chance in the T20 World Cup. He pointed out that he struggled with his form in the middle. Speaking to SEN Tassie, he explained:
“Steve Smith, as great a player as he is, no one will ever deny that, particularly in the lead up to that World Cup, was not playing well. If you go back to the Dubai World Cup (2021), people were saying why is he still in the team.
“Then he was replaced by Tim David, which most people had no issues with and I think if you go even deeper than that, and you look at why he wasn’t playing… in his 20 innings leading up to that in T20, he was averaging low 20s at a very low strike rate and when you want to be batting at no.4 or no.5, that just doesn’t cut it,” he added.
He’s got a chance in South Africa to take his T20 form opening the batting – Steve Smith
Tim Paine further went on to say it’ll be a great opportunity for Steve Smith to take his form into international cricket and he feels that if the batter ticks all the boxes, he’ll be there for a long time. He explained:
“So to say it was embarrassing, I think it’s actually really clear why he wasn’t playing when he wasn’t playing and now he’s got a chance. It doesn’t mean he’s going to play all the time but he’s got a chance in South Africa to take his T20 form opening the batting into international cricket and if he can do that, he’ll keep playing.
“You’ve got a spot that’s opened up since Aaron Finch has retired. Since he’s retired, Steve Smith – who has struggled traditionally in T20 – has gone back to the Big Bash and absolutely dominated as an opening batter and demanded selection in Aaron Finch’s spot, probably ahead of Travis Head, he would have been the other option to open the batting,” he added.
The three-match T20I series between South Africa and Australia begins on August 30th in Durban.
