3 Reasons Why Steve Smith Is Destined To Fail In The ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022
Published - 18 Oct 2022, 03:38 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:14 AM
Defending champions Australia will kickstart their ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against New Zealand on October 22. The Aaron Finch-led side is one of the favourites and the hosts will hope to emulate the success again.
However, there are other pressing issues facing the selectors – namely Steve Smith’s utility in the T20 format, the fitness or otherwise of Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh, both of whom played big roles in Australia’s title run last year, where to fit Tim David’s attacking talents.
With a lot of speculations surrounding Australia’s Probable Playing XI, let’s take a look at 3 reasons why former skipper Steve Smith might not be able to make much impact in the showpiece event.
No space to fit Steve Smith in Playing XI
Australia opener David Warner is in sublime form and his sheer power with the willow makes him an irreplaceable cog in the squad. Add to that with, Marsh and Marcus Stoinis, it seems inevitable that Steve Smith will be squeezed out of the side.
Australia relies heavily on all-rounders for balance in its starting XI, with the team habitually employing four-strike bowlers since last year’s T20 World Cup.
Put simply, there isn’t room for five specialist batters in the top six.
Steve Smith has the lowest strike rate amongst Australian batsmen
Smith served as Australia’s middle-order anchor during last year’s T20 World Cup, but he struggled to find any rhythm in the United Arab Emirates, finishing the tournament with 69 runs in four knocks at a strike rate of less than 100.
He has since ditched the “Mr Fix It” moniker, cherishing the opportunity to play with more freedom in the middle — but recent form suggests otherwise.
Smith has made seven single-figure scores in his last 12 T20I innings, averaging 19.14 in the game’s shortest format this year.
His T20I strike rate of 112.77 is the lowest among Australian top-order batters over the past 12 months.
Tim David favourite over Steve Smith owing to better performances
If everyone is fit and available, one can see Australia going with the same batting line-up – order flexible – with the only change being David in Smith’s place.
The former skipper’s only case for retention could be the bigger Australian grounds and the probability of early wickets lost, when his skills and more conservative style of batting may come in handy. But teams these days usually keep on attacking throughout the innings, even if they lose a few batsmen along the way. Smith’s recent annual strike rates in T20Is have been 97.18 in 2021 (4 innings) and 120.51 in 2022 thus far (9 innings), much lower than the norm for the rest of the Australian batting order.
In contrast, David, who admittedly has just started playing for Australia, has a strike rate of 165.95 over seven matches.
