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Steve Smith’s passion and dedication is without question, if he could play for Australia every day of year he’d have a smile from ear to ear.
Smith’s by far the highest ranked Test batsman in the world with 933 points. He leads Virat Kohli (875), Joe Root (848), Kane Williamson (846), and is ahead of compatriot David Warner’s 812.
Smith has a Test average of 60.15 with 17 centuries and 20 half-centuries. Kohli has 50.10 with 15/14, Root 52.80 with 11/27, Williamson 50.57 with 15/25, and Warner 49.16 with 18/23.
Smith is just as important to Australia’s ODI campaigns, even though he’s ranked 10th in the world with 755 points for his 44.17 average that includes eight centuries and 16 half-centuries.
AB de Villiers lead the ODI rankings with 861 points, an average of 53.63 with 11/16. Then there’s Kohli’s 848 points, 53.10 average and 27/38, Warner’s 840 points, 42.29 average with 8/19, Quinton de Kock’s 779 points, average 43.84 with 11/8, and Williamson’s 770 points, 46.81 average with 8/27.
But here’s the point.
Smith is such a priceless asset as captain, consistent batsman, and brilliant fieldsman to Australia’s Test and ODI formats, should selectors rein in his passion and dedication and rule the 27-year-old out of the T20 format?
There are valid reasons on stats alone. In the shortest form of the game, Smith is ranked 91st in the world and averages just 21.55 with no centuries and just two half-centuries (90 and 61 not out) in 25 visits to the crease.
Believe it or not, Aaron Finch on 771 points and Glenn Maxwell with 763, are second and third in the world T20 rankings, behind Kohli’s 820.
And there’s another valid reason why selectors can start by leaving Smith out of the T20s. Cricket Australia has scheduled a three-game T20 series against Sri Lanka, with the last inked in on the day before Australia meets India at Pune in the first of four Tests.
On the surface, the decision by Cricket Australia is one of the most bone-headed of all time.
It effectively rules out of the Sri Lanka series these potential T20 reps: Smith, Warner, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe, Ashton Agar, and Mitchell Swepson.
But there may be a subtle method to Cricket Australia’s madness.
By ruling out all the main suspects, the selectors will be forced to look long and hard at the Big Bash stats to find basically a new T20 team.
And with Australia’s T20 performances nowhere near the Test and ODI standards, a new look side might be the answer.
But the real thrust for the future is cutting down Steve Smith’s workload so Australia’s best cricketer can maintain his lofty standard.
Nothing is more important on the Australian cricket calendar.