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NEW DELHI: Steve Smith should be brought back into the T20I squad, according to former Australia captain Mark Taylor, who claims that the top order lacks a solid plan since David Warner retired.
The right-handed batter was left out of the 20-over team for the tour of Scotland and England after Australia, without Smith, was eliminated from the Men’s T20 World Cup in June after reaching the Super Eight stage.In the most recent series victory over Scotland, Australia chose to select young Jake-Fraser McGurk, who made two ducks and a knock of sixteen.
“I’m interested to see what Australia does from here on with that top order to replace Dave Warner. It seems to be at the moment it’s about putting more and more hitters in there and eventually one of them will come off. I think that’s a bit of a flawed plan because I’d like to see Steve Smith back in our order somewhere,” said Taylor on Nine’s Wide World of Sports show, as per IANS.
Australia lost to Afghanistan by a shocking 21 runs in St. Vincent during the T20 World Cup, and Taylor says the result demonstrated why the team needed Smith in its lineup. However, he also sees a role for Smith in the 2026 edition.
“If or when you get a slow pitch as we did in the recent World Cup, we lost to Afghanistan which forced us out of that World Cup, we needed someone like Steve Smith in that middle order. I still think the better batsmen in the world will bat well in all formats so I just worry about our philosophy that Warner’s out, let’s go with another hitter.”
“I’d still like Australian selectors to think about putting Steve Smith back in the side somewhere to add a bit of stability for a slow pitch. On a flat pitch sure, put all your hitters in and go for it, try and make 200. On a slower pitch, sometimes 150 can be hard to chase as we saw when Australia played Afghanistan in the recent World Cup,” he concluded.
The right-handed batter was left out of the 20-over team for the tour of Scotland and England after Australia, without Smith, was eliminated from the Men’s T20 World Cup in June after reaching the Super Eight stage.In the most recent series victory over Scotland, Australia chose to select young Jake-Fraser McGurk, who made two ducks and a knock of sixteen.
“I’m interested to see what Australia does from here on with that top order to replace Dave Warner. It seems to be at the moment it’s about putting more and more hitters in there and eventually one of them will come off. I think that’s a bit of a flawed plan because I’d like to see Steve Smith back in our order somewhere,” said Taylor on Nine’s Wide World of Sports show, as per IANS.
Australia lost to Afghanistan by a shocking 21 runs in St. Vincent during the T20 World Cup, and Taylor says the result demonstrated why the team needed Smith in its lineup. However, he also sees a role for Smith in the 2026 edition.
“If or when you get a slow pitch as we did in the recent World Cup, we lost to Afghanistan which forced us out of that World Cup, we needed someone like Steve Smith in that middle order. I still think the better batsmen in the world will bat well in all formats so I just worry about our philosophy that Warner’s out, let’s go with another hitter.”
“I’d still like Australian selectors to think about putting Steve Smith back in the side somewhere to add a bit of stability for a slow pitch. On a flat pitch sure, put all your hitters in and go for it, try and make 200. On a slower pitch, sometimes 150 can be hard to chase as we saw when Australia played Afghanistan in the recent World Cup,” he concluded.
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