Australia captain Steve Smith stated that he hasn’t finalised his batting position for the upcoming Champions Trophy and noted that the players are flexible to bat anywhere in the middle. He talked about the dew factor in deciding the batting order.
In the absence of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith will lead Australia in the Champions Trophy 2025. They will begin their campaign campaign against Ashes rival England on February 22 at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Ahead of that, the veteran batter revealed that he is not sure about Australia’s batting order for the marquee tournament.
With Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis not being there in the middle order, Australia are forced to adjust their batting order. They suffered back-to-back defeats to Sri Lanka earlier in the month and that has forced the team to consider a different strategy. Speaking on the same, Smith mentioned that the players are flexible to change batting numbers and added that it will depend on whether they are batting or bowling first.
“We’ll wait and see. It’s part of our discussions around flexibility and role-specific things throughout the tournament. One day I might be three, one day I might be four – we’ll see. It might change from batting first to second as well, depending on what we want to do and what we’re chasing and what we’re trying to achieve,” Smith told cricket.com.au.
The 35-year-old also reminded that dew can play a significant part in the second innings of any match. He wants to consider that factor while deciding the batting order as the cricketer believes that the players who feature regularly in T20s might be better in playing against wet balls.
“I think dew is going to be a huge part in the back end of the second innings, whether we want to load up the back end a little bit more. I know there’s five (fielders) out at that stage, but I think with a wet ball that kind of negates that in a way, particularly with guys that have played a lot of T20 cricket who know what they can do with five out when the ball’s skidding on nicely. There’s different scenarios that we can go down, but we’re going to be flexible and adaptable throughout,” said Smith.