T20 World Cup 2022: Australia slammed over team selection, Steve Smith snubbing
He’s the greatest batsman of his generation, but Australia refuses to find a way to get Steve Smith into its misfiring T20 team – a call that has left one Kiwi great staggered.
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Steve Smith’s World Cup snubbing has staggered a Kiwi great who says rivals will be overjoyed by Australia’s decision to sideline one of the best ever.
The debate for selectors to recall Smith to rescue Australia’s wounded campaign is raging across the country, as two valid arguments rip into each other.
Smith sympathisers claim he would bring balance to a power-heavy top order vulnerable to collapsing when early wickets fall. But the counter argument is he scores too slow and would not have helped Australia chase down a mammoth target like New Zealand’s 201 at the SCG.
Black Caps’ great Ian Smith is adamant that banishing arguably the No.1 batsman of his era for the pressure-cooker of a World Cup defies logic, as Kane Williamson showcased the underrated value of a steady hand in New Zealand’s 89-run annihilation of Australia.
“I looked at their batting line-up on Saturday night without him. At first I thought he might have been injured and not considered. I just could not believe really, with a game of that importance or a tournament of this importance, that you’d leave that kind of class out,” Smith told News Corp.
“Even with an average start (by Australia), New Zealand would have been much more fearful seeing Steve Smith walk out at No.4 than Glenn Maxwell.
“I know Glenn Maxwell played OK, but Steve Smith is a genuine World. Class. Batsman.
“And one of his great assets is his ability to bat through situations and prevail.
“Again, he’s not likely to destroy you from ball one, but he’ll work his way towards a target like that and as long as you get someone with him … if he’s at the crease when the game is over, not very often you would have lost – I can promise you that.”
Australia has decided Smith’s strike rate of 125 in T20s does not cut the mustard anymore in a rapidly-evolving format where at least in the franchise leagues, clearing the fence is everything.
But New Zealand has an entirely different take and still regards Williamson as invaluable despite striking even lower than Smith at an average of 123 runs per 100 balls faced.
Williamson scored at just a run-a-ball for his 23 at the SCG, but coming in after an explosive opening partnership, the kiwi captain ensured New Zealand did not suffer the loss of back-to-back wickets.
By the time he departed in the 13th over, Williamson had put it on a tee for the Black Caps’ lower order hitters to come in and go into blast-off mode with the impunity of having wickets in the shed.
Australia on the other hand have struggled to build batting partnerships through the warm-up games and capitulated for 111 at the SCG, destroying their net run rate and leaving them on the brink of elimination.
Despite this, captain Aaron Finch and star Marcus Stoinis insist changes are unlikely.
Ian Smith says Australia might think they’re bringing the intimidation factor by stacking the middle-order with muscle-men, but he believes they’re actually playing into the hands of rivals by benching a “manufacturer as opposed to a bludgeoner” of the rare class of Steve Smith.
“I think for New Zealand it’s just a calmness and a bit of assuredness about seeing Kane Williamson’s name in the batting line-up and that’s based on performance and based on the record he’s been able to establish in all forms of the game over the last decade,” said Smith, one of the world’s premier commentators.
“He provides a real psychological boost to have him around for the team, but he also damages the opposition a little bit because the opposition realises that he’s a very hard wicket to get.
“He guards his wicket very dearly. He’s not the traditional T20, hit it out of the ground type batsman, but he finds a way to achieve a pretty handy strike rate.
“He’s a craftsman.
“You look at an Australian side without a Steve Smith – and he’s available – you think, ‘hello, we’ve got a real chance here.’
“New Zealand protecting that total on Saturday night would have been a lot happier without him.”
HUMILIATION PROMPTS TACTICAL RETHINK
Australia’s humiliating World Cup loss to New Zealand may prompt a rethink of the team’s chase-to-win mantra, with the tactics now under a searing microscope.
Captain Aaron Finch has consistently backed his team to bowl first and mow down totals in Twenty20 cricket, but after three warm-up losses snowballed into Saturday night’s 89-run loss disaster at the SCG, Australia are one slip away from being rissoled out of the tournament.
Of course if Finch loses the toss against Sri Lanka on Tuesday night the decision is out of his hands anyway, but if he gets to choose, there is mounting evidence to suggest Australia might be better off backing bowlers to defend them to victory amid the mounting pressure of World Cup play.
Finch won five out of six tosses in the warm-up matches, yet elected to bowl first every time, and can only wonder whether New Zealand openers Devon Conway and Finn Allen would have had the gumption to throw the kitchen sink at Australia and execute, had they been set a decent total to chase instead of being allowed to set a target themselves.
Twenty20 cricket is all about analysis and those numbers say chasers win. But there’s no way of measuring the weight of World Cup pressure.
“Yeah I think there’s always something to be said for putting runs on the board in big games,” concedes Australian star, Marcus Stoinis.
“But there’s a lot that goes into tosses and the decisions you make.
“It was meant to rain all day Saturday, (so when you see) 90 per cent chance of thunderstorms all day, you think, ‘well maybe we’ll see what that equation is going to be if we bowl first.’
“But it wasn’t to be.
“I agree with you, but there’s also things that you need to take into account.”
The stakes are high with Stoinis conceding chasing 200 in this World Cup could be a regular occurance.
“Maybe (200 is) not par, but 180 is probably a good score and if you’re chasing 200 it’s going to be a tough night and things need to go your way,” he said.
Pressure is also on selectors to seriously consider Cameron Green after Australia was exposed and brutalised by a lack of bowling options.
Skipper Finch felt he couldn’t trust second spinner Glenn Maxwell due to the way he matched up against New Zealand, leaving him with just the five bowlers to rotate despite the carnage being dished out by the Black Cap bats.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh is still yet to be used as a bowler since his comeback from an ankle injury and Finch will be desperately hoping he can call on the big West Australian for an over or two in Tuesday night’s must-win clash against Sri Lanka at Optus Stadium.
Despite Green’s late entry to the squad, he looms large as a difficult asset to ignore if Australia continues to wobble; considering he’s an x-factor who can bat in the top order and bowl four overs of rapid, wicket-taking pace.
Stoinis admits he’s unsure if Marsh will be passed fit to bowl on Tuesday.
“No, I’m not sure. He probably bowled before the game Saturday and at training the other day, but there’s just a difference between bowling in the nets and being ready for the game,” said Stoinis.
“Obviously his batting is so important to us. At this stage it’s just play it by ear game to game.
“You go into these games with your frontline bowlers and that’s the responsibility we all want, to bowl those four overs.
“I’m pretty confident that this is the line-up we’ll go with. I think it’s hard if you change from game to game. Personally, I’m confident in our team.”
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