Touted as a future captaincy candidate, Steve Smith says leadership is far from his mind as he seeks to build on his reborn Test career.
Smith was one of the biggest plus positives from the 3-0 Ashes series loss in England, cementing himself in Australia’s middle-order, scoring two fifties and his maiden Test century.
It built on a encouraging return to the Test squad in India, where Smith came back into the team after over two years in the wilderness.
From outsider in March, the 24-year-old would have been one of the first names picked for next week’s Ashes opener in Brisbane.
His recent captaincy for NSW has earmarked him as a potential international leader but Smith says he’s still securing his own role in the Test team at present.
“If that (captaincy) comes up down the track, then so be it,” Smith told AAP.
“At the moment it’s not even in my mind at all.
“I’ve only scored one hundred in 12 Tests … hopefully a couple of big scores at the Gabba and we’ll go from there.
“I feel definitely a little bit more settled in my game, hopefully that’ll help me play as freely as I need to and be able to score runs and win games for Australia.”
Smith’s appearance next week will be his first Test outing at the Gabba and while pace was, by his own admission, a weakness to his batting, he’s relishing the chance to tackle England’s attack once more.
He’ll go into the Test in great form, having backed up a hundred in NSW’s Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria earlier this month with a breezy 69 in the Blues’ game against Queensland on Wednesday.
All up Smith has 281 runs from three Shield games at an average of 66.75, putting him fourth on the run-scorers list behind ex-Test players Marcus North and Cameron White and current Test opener Chris Rogers.
Controlling his instincts, especially against the short ball, played a role but Smith will also look to get under the skin of England off-spinner Graeme Swann after troubling him during the winter series.
“I’ve played at the Gabba plenty of times and I’ve scored a few runs there as well,” he said.
“The extra bounce and pace is something I look forward to.
“Our gameplan against Swanny is going to be pretty important. If we go after him, the quicks have to come back and they’re not going to get the rest they might need.
“I got a bit of him in England and he got the better of me a few times as well. I’m certainly looking forward to the contest of facing him, not just at the Gabba but hopefully at the other places as well.”
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