Steve Smith is ageing and struggling for runs, but he’s not finished – especially as the current selection panel has a record of not being able to drop Test players.
Is Steve Smith finished? No, you won’t get an answer on that – not when a lucky bounce, a dropped catch or a fluke deflection will take all the science out of it.
Smith’s intention becomes the sole factor because the current selection panel has a proven record of not being able to drop Australian Test players. In three years on the panel, George Bailey, Tony Dodemaide and Andrew McDonald have not dropped one single player on a performance basis. The nearest they have come was omitting Marcus Harris at the fag-end of the 2021-22 Ashes series, but that was a reshuffle caused by Travis Head returning following a positive COVID test.
A couple of observations from the outside. First is that his singular technique never looked like it would age well. Moving so far across the crease, front-on, required two outstanding qualities of the eye. One was to be able to hit every single ball on his pads, because otherwise he was lbw. The other was to have the clarity of mind to judge balls that might be coming in from his off side. This required a quickness and instinct that cannot be taught or imitated. They were Smith’s own.
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