Never Wanted to Play for England: Steven Smith

Australian skipper Steven Smith has stressed that he never wanted to play for England despite a lucrative offer from Surrey during his teenage days. Smith also warned Maxwell he needs to get his act together if he harbours any hopes of ODI comeback.

While Smith was not eager to pursue his career in England, he praised highly of County Cricket. He further admitted that he wants to play county at some point in time.

Smith chose to play club cricket in Kent for Sevenoaks Vine during the summers of 2007. Soon he started attracting the interest of several clubs. Kent was the first to offer him second XI cricket. But after one match he informed their academy coach, Paul Farbrace he had no intention of forging his career in the UK.

Smith played for Surrey second XI instead. And, after a few weeks – he played with the likes of Chris Jordan, Jason Roy, Jade Dernbach. By then he was in and out of the New South Wales squad and focused on playing for Australia.

“Yes, I got offered a contract at Surrey. At 18 years of age, it sounded like quite a fair amount of money to me. But I always knew I wanted to come back and play for New South Wales and for Australia and do my best there,” Smith said ahead of the Sydney Test.

“It was a decision I had to make at the time, and I think I chose the right one. I never had ambitions to play for England as such, I always wanted to play for Australia,” 28-year-old Smith added further.

But Smith has a love for County Cricket and loves the way it is being played. Having a busy schedule, Smith stills nurtures his dream of four-day county cricket at some stage.

“I’d love to play some county cricket at some point in my career,” Smith said. “I never had any opportunity to play four-day cricket there. I had a Twenty20 stint with Worcestershire, which I really enjoyed,” Smith expressed.

“But I think just any chance guys get to play first-class cricket against quality oppositions in foreign conditions, it’s only good for the individual to try to improve their game. And I’m sure the counties enjoy having a quality player coming and playing for them as well,” Smith signed off.

Australia has already regained the Ashes Urn beating England at Perth by an innings and 41 runs. However, England fought back well in the fourth Test as Australia managed to pull off a draw. The fifth and last Ashes Test will start from tomorrow at Sydney Cricket Ground.

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