Sydney: Steve Smith has explained the thinking behind his move back down to number four in the Australia Test team after a short stint as opener.
Smith was moved up to open the batting following the retirement of David Warner and featured at the top of the order during two-match Test series against West Indies at home and away in New Zealand.
But a combination of the absence of Cameron Green from the Australian squad for the upcoming series against India, plus Smith’s relatively modest returns as opener, means he will be back at a more familiar role at number four during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Smith has explained that the move came about after a conversation he had with captain Pat Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald, an ICC report said.
"I got asked where my preference would be, and I said four,” Smith said.
“I saw a few things last week saying that I've requested to bat at four. That wasn't the case," he said.
“I said I'm happy to bat wherever you'd like me to bat, but yeah, four would be my ideal position," Smith said.
An unbeaten 91 against West Indies was Smith’s one significant knock in eight innings as opener, and the 35-year-old said he enjoyed the experience and would be confident of “doing a job” there in future.
But the right-hander, who has 9685 Test runs to his name, says that the top order players in the team also felt more comfortable with him being in the middle order.
"Conversations we had after New Zealand, with particularly Marnus and Uzzie (Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja), they hated me up top, to be honest. They wanted me behind them. So that was a big part of it. And then obviously I've got a decent record at four (5966 runs at an average of 61.51)," he said.
"It was good fun having a crack at something new, batting up top. I still feel like I could do a job there for sure. It was a pretty small sample size," Smith said.
"But I've done pretty well at four for a number of years now. I feel like it's probably where I can have my best input for this team at the moment," Smith added.
Australia will be without all-rounder Green after he underwent back surgery that will rule him out for an estimated six months.
No decision has yet been made on who will replace Green in the Test XI, with a slot now available at opener with Smith filling Green’s role at number four.
The Test series against India begins on November 22, with the pair currently occupying the top two spots in the World Test Championship standings.
