England great Joe Root’s subtle social media sledge of opener Steve Smith

From one great to another, Joe Root has taken a cryptic dig at Steve Smith to add fuel to an already burning fire ahead of Australia’s most important home Test series in years.

With one stroke of a keyboard, England great Joe Root has subtly offered his view on the Steve Smith opening experiment.

By giving a thumbs up to a video posted by The Willow Talk Podcast about why Smith shouldn’t open, it could be interpreted Root is giving a thumbs down to a move that has polarised Australian cricket.

Sure, giving a “like” to a video on Instagram is understated and possibly a little cryptic from Root but it still seems a significant comment because it’s one GOAT giving his opinion on another.

It’s the same as how the tennis world would hang off any little nugget of analysis Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic might provide about one of the other members of the big three.

No two people are better placed to assess the wisdom and risk versus reward of Smith’s brave move up the order to open than Root and Virat Kohli, who are similar ages and have lived very similar lives as middle-order Gods.

Joe Root seems to not be a fan of Steve Smith the opener. Picture: Getty Images

Australia might have snuck home against New Zealand but it now has a massive decision to make later this year on whether to continue with Smith as an opening batsman, when it’s clear there’s something not quite jelling about the new-look top six.

It’s true what Australian coach Andrew McDonald says that four Tests is a very small sample size to be writing off Smith as an opening batsman, particularly when in one of those Tests against the West Indies he carried his bat in a stoic innings that almost snatched victory for Australia.

But there is no hiding from the fact Australia’s top order is not functioning as it should and when India arrives for the first of five Tests next summer, the batting unit would want to find another gear to the one it has mustered against the battling Windies and Kiwis.

It was fundamentally selfless of Smith to put his hand up to open when no one else would because getting Cameron Green into the team has been the correct call.

But the question remains; is persisting with Smith as an opener going to best help Australia stop India from winning a third consecutive series on our shores?

Whatever your opinion might be, the truth is there may be no going back now and whether he succeeds or fails, Smith will have to finish his career as an opener.

He can hardly revert to No.4 now that Green has announced himself as the future of the middle-order with his series-defining hundred in New Zealand.

Australia’s starboy Cameron Green again announced himself to the cricketing world against New Zealand. Picture: Getty Images

On the flip side, it would be a disaster for Australia if it has painted itself into a corner and poor returns as an opener push Smith into a premature exit from the game.

Smith is not the player he once was and at age 34 he doesn’t need to apologise for that because the same thing happened to Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and all the greats.

One worrying aspect about Smith’s move to open is he partially went there to counteract the short-pitch bowling tactics teams had employed against him.

But he’s run into a different problem, the seaming ball, and suddenly his radar for telling where his off stump is appears to be scrambled and he looks increasingly vulnerable to lbw dismissals.

These were becoming issues for Smith at No.4 as well but coming in against an older ball, he still carved out important innings, like the half century he made against Pakistan at the MCG, which was ugly but showed a grit that Australia is desperately lacking at the moment.

Smith can’t provide the backbone innings Australia needs, and of which he is still capable, when he’s first man out.

The left-field option Australian selectors should do some serious pondering over in the coming months is Travis Head to open.

Is Travis Head the answer to Andrew MacDonald’s problem? Picture: Getty Images

The hole left by David Warner’s attacking and aggressive tempo at the top of the order is enormous and his capabilities as a once-in-a-lifetime opener are becoming even more stark with every Test Australia plays without him.

Head is vice-captain of this Australian side. Is it time he is asked to take on greater responsibility than he holds batting at No.5?

If Head could bring some of the game-changing stroke play to opening in Test cricket as he has done in the ODI arena, it could solve a lot of problems for everyone else in the order.

Even though Australia’s batting was middling at best in New Zealand, it’s hard to argue that the best six batsmen in the country aren’t already in the team.

The task facing selectors is how to best fit the jigsaw pieces together to get the most out individuals and find a combination and rhythm that can stop India winning a third consecutive series on Australian shores.

Smith’s future is at the centre of everything.

Originally published as England great Joe Root’s subtle social media sledge of opener Steve Smith