Cricket news: Australian coach Andrew McDonald implores Steve Smith to not even think about Test retirement

Steve Smith has opened up on his test future, after Australia coach Andrew McDonald implored the superstar batsman to hold off retirement thoughts in a private meeting.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has pleaded to Steve Smith in a private meeting that he wants him to squeeze every last drop out of his Test career.

The conversation which took place during the recent Ashes tour shows that the mysterious comments Smith has made over the past 12 months regarding his future have been taken seriously by an Australian hierarchy who regard him as indispensable.

Smith is wrestling with reflections Test great Ricky Ponting made about the twilight of his career where he admitted that in hindsight he felt he played on too long following the retirements of Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

But as Australia approaches another period of change similar to the transition in eras that Ponting was trying to bridge, the fact McDonald has made the proactive step of stressing to Smith his importance to the future of the Test team is significant.

With David Warner to retire after the Sydney Test, Usman Khawaja approaching his 37th birthday and the entire Test bowling attack nearer to the end of their careers than the start, McDonald was motivated to speak to Smith about the key role he wants him to play over the coming years.

Australia's Steve Smith says he has no immediate plans to retire from test cricket. Picture: AFP

“So far Ron (McDonald) has basically said, ‘we want you to play for as long as possible,’” Smith, 34, told this masthead.

“ … I’ll have conversations with Ron and the relevant people and see what they like.

“I’ve listened to Punter (Ponting) speak and Punter was like, ‘I wish I’d gone a bit earlier.’

“I think he was in the kind of boat where a lot of people had just left and he was trying to be that senior figure I suppose, and he might have said he played a little bit too long.

“I don’t know. We’ll wait and see. I’ve got no immediate plans anyway, so all good.”

Over the past 12 months, Smith has been vague about his future plans, saying on multiple occasions that he’s now taking his career game by game, tour by tour.

Smith’s declaration that he has “no immediate plans” should come as a major relief to Australian cricket … but will he still be around for the next Ashes tour of England in 2027?

“I doubt it. I think that’s just a bit too far, but you never know,” Smith said.

“I’ve got no idea really (about when the end might come). I feel like I’m enjoying it. I’m having fun and helping contribute and I want to keep getting better.

“There’s no immediate plans.”

Australian coach Andrew McDonald plans on squeezing as much out of Smith as he can. Picture: Getty Images.

When it comes to 50-over cricket, Smith also hasn’t made any decisions with Australia to launch its World Cup campaign on Sunday against hosts, India.

But Smith admits he can’t see himself playing the next ODI World Cup in four years’ time.

“Not sure. I think, I’ll have conversations with people, we’ll see what others believe is best,” Smith said.

“There’s another World Cup four years away. I doubt I’ll make that. We’ll wait and see. See how the tournament pans out and we’ll go from there.”

Smith is an all-time great, with 32 Test hundreds and 9320 runs, and is one of the youngest to ever achieve those milestones.

While there was an obvious decline in Ponting’s output in his latter years, Smith is still clearly one of the best – if not the best Test batsman in the world.

Even if Smith’s average was dropping, Australia would still be desperate for him to forge on, but with his average still hovering just under 60 – it would be a shattering blow for the Test team to lose a player of Smith’s class when he still had more fuel left in the tank.

Smith has played down his chances of reaching Ponting’s Australian record 41 Test hundreds, but there’s no reason why he couldn’t chase that mark down, particularly if he can cash in this summer at home against Pakistan and the West Indies.

Originally published as Cricket news: Australian coach Andrew McDonald implores Steve Smith to not even think about Test retirement