Ace Australian batter Steve Smith has quashed the talks regarding his retirement after batting his side out of trouble in the fifth and final test of the Ashes series on Saturday. The former Australian skipper showed a lot of determination to apply himself on the tough wickets at the Oval before throwing away his wicket in the 1st innings.
The 34-year-old played other phenomenal innings under pressure in hostile conditions at the Oval. He scored 71 runs off 123 deliveries with the help of 6 boundaries in his innings. Australia fought out hard on Day 2 as they were bowled out for 295 on Day 2 of the final Ashes 2023 Test.
Speaking to the media after the end of the Day 2 play, Steve Smith denied the claims about his retirement plans in test cricket after a gritty knock against England.
“I’m not retiring, No Idea Because I’ve said it to anyone, No Idea Not Going Anywhere Yet,” Steve Smith said.
Steven Smith isn't quitting cricket just yet ?#ENGvAUS #CricketTwitter #Ashes pic.twitter.com/WFr1dVB4Xf
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 29, 2023
Earlier, former England skipper Michael Vaughan said that he heard a strong whisper regarding the retirement of Steve Smith at the Oval following the ongoing Ashes series.
“Again I’m not too sure where they’ve got that. And quite a strong whisper was about Steve Smith that it could be his last time out for Australia at the Oval as well. Again, I’ve not seen that personally, but it’s just the whisper and the gossip.”
Steve Smith said that it was a pretty good knock against England in the conditions that favored the bowlers and admitted that he would have liked to score a few more runs in this series but was happy with the fact to get two hundreds so far in the series and added that the team was disappointed in not being able to build on partnership after grinding out hard on the field
“I felt pretty good, Today is the best I have batted maybe outside of the Test Championship. I would have liked more runs (on this tour) of course. But two hundreds in six games for the winter here, I think it’s reasonable.”
“Overall we can be a little disappointed, A lot of us got starts and weren’t able to capitalize. If one of those partnerships that were 40 or 50 (turns) into 100 or 150. That gives us a decent lead,” Steve Smith added.
The fifth and final test of the Ashes series is in the balance after England bowlers gave no easy runs to the Australian on Day 2, as the Aussies batters struggled to get going in the 1st innings as the English bowlers picked up wickets in regular interval and the Ben Stokes-led side will look to put on the big total for Australia to chase down to draw the series in the home soil.