AUS Vs WI: Will Andrew McDonald Allow Steve Smith To Replace David Warner As Australia's Test Opener? Head Coach Reveals Shocking Truth

Australia National team head coach Andrew McDonald in a recent interview, appreciated batter Steve Smith for taking the initiative and throwing his hat in the conversation of replacing David Warner in the test opening slot as the Southpaw retired from the longest format after Australia completed an emphatic whitewash of Pakistan by 3-0 in Sydney.

The Aussie management is currently on the lookout for a new and efficient test opener who can replace the outgoing David Warner who has been a prominent name in the Australian side for better parts of the last decade. Though it will be hard to find a like-to-like replacement for Warner, the management has 3 names to gamble on, actually 4 after Steve Smith publicly stated that he wants to take up the role.

At the moment Cameron Bancroft, Matt Renshaw, and Marcus Harris are leading the race to join Usman Khawaja as the new opening pair but it will not be until the 2-match test series against West Indies that we find out who is going to come in.

Head coach Andrew McDonald after getting to know about the public statement of Steve Smith to open for the Baggy Greens, claimed that he is happy to have someone like him on the team who is willing to take the onus and help the team before confirming that it is an open-ended topic as of now and they willing to try every options.

“Smith had some strong thoughts, he’s made those public. So we’ll consider all options. Its nice to have him putting his hand up. I think there were a few other that weren’t putting their hand up.” – McDonald said.

Steve Smith’s teammate Marnus Labuschagne also backed him to take up the opening role and also believes that Smith would excel as an opener. Smith who started his career as a leg-spinner, transformed into a top-order batter most evidently after 2013 and is just 486 runs away from completing 10,000 test runs.

McDonald Prefers Steve Smith To Bat At No.3 Or 4

Andrew McDonald highlighted the fact that the Test and ODI World Champions need to retain their uniformity and strength instead of weakening their quality for the sake of filling up a gap. He claimed that it’s only a matter of time until a new opener comes in but otherwise, Steve Smith balances the side as a No. 3 or 4.

“Steve at No. 3 or 4 is pretty appetizing also. You’ve got to make sure you’re not removing the strengths of the team in the search to fill a gap also. So there is a balance within that.” – McDonald concluded.

Meanwhile, Steve Smith is yet to score a century in Tests since his 110 in the 2nd Ashes test in Lord’s. He scored 194 runs across the 6 innings he played against Pakistan recently and overall has 9514 Test runs under his belt at an average of 58 including 32 Centuries.