Australia men’s cricket head coach Andrew McDonald has recently opened up about the batting position of senior batter Steve Smith for the Test series against India.
Australia will host India for a five-match Test series, starting from November 22 in Perth. The second match will be played in Adelaide from December 6, followed by the third Test in Brisbane, scheduled from December 14-18.
The iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will host the fourth match from December 26, while the final Test will be played in Sydney from January 3.
McDonald shared that Australia’s coaching staff is discussing Smith’s role in the upcoming Test matches and he is most likely to open the innings alongside Usman Khawaja.
The head coach shared that the team management will inform Smith’s Sheffield Shield side New South Wales about their plans so that he can get the required practice during the domestic season.
Follow us on our Official WhatsApp channel
“That’s the question on everyone’s lips, isn’t it? While we’ve got an eye to it, we haven’t made any firm decisions around that one,” McDonald said on Australian radio station SEN.
“We’ll unveil everything, and we’ll let (NSW coach) Greg Shipperd know what our plans are and then we’ll see what he does with his New South Wales side should Steve Smith play Shield cricket.
“We’ve already had some chats in Sydney initially around what we’re thinking for the summer, and that goes right down to depth bowling and what it looks like, all those hypotheticals and what ifs that we always go through.”
Andrew McDonald also highlighted the issue of moving someone else to open the innings, if Smith is to play in the middle-order.
“Clearly, if we make a shift with Steve Smith, then someone else will have to go to the top,” he added.
“We’ve seen Cameron Green be really successful at number four as well. So that sort of adds layers to the decision-making. But nothing is firm and fixed on at the moment.”