Cricket: What Steve Smith critics don’t get about move to replace David Warner in Australia’s Test team | Robert Craddock

Many former Australian greats strongly disagree with the move of Steve Smith to opener. The problem is they are applying conventional wisdom to a totally unconventional player, writes Robert Craddock.

Steve Smith is a different cat … different gravy.

I am wracking my small brain trying to think of another champion middle order batsman who, late in their career, had this wacky thought … “god, I’d love to open the batting.’’

Some did it out of necessity. But as a wish?

Most want to run in the opposite direction. For good reason. As reflexes slow bowlers get tougher.

I remember sitting beside champion England batsman Graham Gooch on a plane on his final tour of Australia and he said he simply could not believe how much quicker Paul Reiffel had become that tour compared to previous visits.

Steve Smith is one of the few champion middle order batsman who has pushed to open the batting late in their careers. Picture: Getty Images

In fact, Reiffel hadn’t changed. Gooch had slowed down.

For reasons like this it is a surprise that Smith wants to open the batting for Australia but as the best batsman of his generation surely he knows what he is capable of.

Most former greats – and even some of Smith’s teammates – strongly disagree with the move of Smith to opener but the problem is they are applying conventional wisdom to a totally unconventional player.

He is not being thrown into the furnace. He wants to jump in, boots and all. He almost needs this challenge.

Marnus Labuschagne spotlighted the key point when he said this switch could see Smith stay in the game for another three years.

There is a chance of course it could find him out and could hasten his retirement.

But if that happens there can be no regrets for Smith. He got what he wanted.

The recall of Cameron Green, 24, for the West Indies series is a sensible move.

When the youngest player in your team is 29-years-old you simply cannot feel comfortable putting another 30-something player in the team.

If the group of candidates to replace David Warner included, say, a young Matthew Hayden who looked like he had the potential to be a long term fix at the top of the order then you would think about leaving Green out.

But the absence of an outstanding candidate just accentuates the need to re-select a player Greg Chappell believes is a future Australian captain.

The selection panel have done a good job at picking a team for the moment in recent times and letting the future look after itself.

The recall of Cameron Green is a sensible move, writes Robert Craddock. Picture: AFP

With points counting for all matches in the World Championship of Test cricket, that’s the way to do it.

But not focusing on the future is one thing. Brazenly ignoring it is another.

Australia is on top of the world at the moment and there is no immediate need to plan for the future.

But the key to smart planning is planning before you have to.

Australia has two major home series on the horizon – India next summer and England the following year – and nothing else really matters.

At some point in those series the team may start to show its age. You want players like Green well entrenched and ready to step up as senior players.

Originally published as Cricket: What Steve Smith critics don’t get about move to replace David Warner in Australia’s Test team | Robert Craddock