Australia have named Steve Smith as an opener for the first Test match against the West Indies, to begin on January 17 at the Adelaide Oval.
The West Indies will play two Test matches in Australia, from January 17 in Adelaide and a pink-ball game from January 25 in Brisbane. The hosts named their starting XI a week ahead of the Test series.
There were speculations around Usman Khwaja’s potential opening partner in the aftermath of David Warner’s retirement following the Pakistan series. Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, and Matt Renshaw were among the potential candidates.
At the same time, there was temptation to include pace-bowling all-rounder Cam Green. When an injury ruled Green out of the Leeds game during the 2023 Ashes, Mitchell Marsh celebrated his return to the Test side after four years with a whirlwind 118. Since his return, Marsh has 594 runs at 66 and five wickets across six Test matches, and has cemented his place.
To accommodate both Marsh and Green, Australia needed to push one of their specialist middle-order batters – up the order. Speculations of trying Steve Smith as opener found support from Michael Clarke.
Cricket Australia now confirmed that Smith will indeed open batting in the Adelaide Test match, while Green will bat at two-drop, between Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. Chair of selectors George Bailey confirmed that Smith opening batting will not be a stop-gap arrangement.
Having started out at eight and nine, Smith worked his way up the order, finally settling at No.4. He has batted at all seven positions from three to nine, and averages more at three (67.07) than at four (61.50) or five (57.18) – indicating that batting up the order has not affected his performance.
Australia have, however, included Renshaw and fast bowler Scott Boland in their squad of 13 players.
In a tour match ahead of the Test series, the West Indians were 251-8 at stumps on day one against a Cricket Australia XI.
Australia squad for first Test against West Indies
Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey (wk), Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, Marnus Labuschagne, Cam Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Matt Renshaw, Scott Boland.
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