More than a week after taking responsibility for New South Wales’ (NSW) controversial decision to drop last season’s leading Sheffield Shield run-maker Ed Cowan, Australia skipper Steven Smith has rubbished claims that he has too much of a say in national selection.
A couple of months ago when Australia lost the ODI series against India, Smith was slammed by several former Australian cricketers who believed the captain is a significant decision-maker when it comes to picking the national team. However, Smith has now rubbished the claims, calling them ‘absolute garbage’.
“I’m not a selector, but I certainly speak to the selectors a lot and express my views,” Smith was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia’s official website. “All this rubbish about me picking my mates, it’s absolute garbage. I certainly don’t agree with that.”
Smith had admitted that he was responsible for Cowan’s surprising axing who made way for Test aspirant Daniel Hughes. Cowan had later applauded Smith for making the decision crystal clear but had gone on to add that the captain had to live and die by selection decisions that are made with his input.
“You can deal with honest feedback in that sense … to have the Test captain say ‘he got picked because we think he can be a Test cricketer’,” Cowan had told Fox Sports.
“I don’t agree with that selection policy, but it’s the Australian Test captain, it’s his team,” he had added.
Earlier in September, Rodney Hogg had accused Smith of favouritism, saying that the skipper could not pick his mates in the team.
“They’re picking their mates. Smith shouldn’t be a selector. (Ashton) Agar’s been pushed through and (Hilton) Cartwright’s still there. We saw (Nic) Maddinson get selected (he’s) a mate, he’s one of Steve Smith’s mates,” Hogg was quoted as saying by news.com.au.
“You can’t pick bloody mates! We’ve got to get fair dinkum. We’re really off the ball a bit here … I think the captain’s getting his own way,” Hogg had added.
However, Smith is not bothered by the recent criticism and said he would just get on with it.
“People can say what they like,” he said. “I’ll read it, but it doesn’t bother me. I’ll just get on with it.”
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