Legendary Australia cricketer Adam Gilchrist said stand-in captain Steve Smith should be slotted in as an opener in the ODI team for the upcoming Champions Trophy, citing it as a way of maximising the number of deliveries he can face in the side’s matches in Pakistan. In Australia’s heavy 2-0 ODI series loss in Sri Lanka, Smith made 12 and 29 as a middle-order batter. But with young Jake Fraser-McGurk in an inconsistent run of form, Gilchrist feels Smith has to open the batting, though he finds Matt Short as an interesting option to partner with Travis Head at the top.
“It’s a challenging one at the moment, but Steve Smith should open. I didn’t see where he was slotted in the game against Sri Lanka. Obviously, Travis is going to be there – he’s fresh and fit. I also like Matt Short being there – he can form a nice left hand-right hand combination – that would be the preferred way for me to go.”
“But I do think Steve Smith can open – we have seen him do that in 20-over cricket really well. Maybe he’s too valuable in the middle-order, but I can’t see a reason why you wouldn’t want him facing as many balls as possible in a 50 over game. It could be a very viable option to get him up there,” said Gilchrist on ABC Summer Grandstand show on Saturday.
Australia, the current ODI World Cup holders, go into the Champions Trophy without their first-choice pacers in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, apart from Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh being unavailable due to injuries.
With Australia to face England, Afghanistan and South Africa in their Champions Trophy league stage games, Gilchrist feels the side could struggle in Pakistan due to their limited preparation for the Champions Trophy.
“I guess there’s been limited preparation with regards to this format. The Australian team were outstanding in the huge summer – both men’s and women’s. But a lot of nations will focus on 50-over cricket when it’s a World Cup year certainly in terms of volume of the games and who’s actually playing it.”
“The next ODI World Cup is in 2027 I suppose, so this is an opportunity to experiment and give younger players a go. That might bring with it some mixed results – once you get into a tournament, it’s just tournament play and find a way to go through the next round.”
“That’s what Australia do well – they scrape well, but it’s going to be challenging in those conditions over there. They don’t have the full strength of players who they would like to take typically, so this might be a tough tournament for them,” he concluded.
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