David Warner has explained the reason behind Steve Smith’s decision to bat as an opener in Tests. After batting mainly at no.4 spot in his 14-year Test career so far, the former Australia skipper has decided to open the innings in the longest format of the game.
On Wednesday (January 10), Australia’s chief selector George Bailey confirmed that the right-handed batsman would open the innings in the upcoming two-match Test series against West Indies. As Australia were looking for David Warner’s replacement, Smith raised his hands and expressed his desire to move at the top of the batting order.
Speaking to Club Prairie Fire, David Warner backed Smith to do well as an opener in Tests before explaining the decision. He stated that the challenge of opening the innings might have played a key role in Smith’s decision to change his batting position at this point in his career.
“I think, he’d go well. He’s probably the best Test batsman in the world. He just finds a way. I think for Steve, it’s probably the challenge of it, which I think he probably wants to get into. He’s ticked the box off where he is now. He probably wants to see if he can go out and open,” said David Warner.
“The thing for him is he gets to face every ball, that’s possible. So, he’s put his hands up for one-day stuff, T20 stuff. He’s quite clearly a very, very good and smart cricket player, so he’ll adapt to any situation. He’ll do very, very well,” he added.
Australia have named Steve Smith as their next opening batsman 🏏 and David Warner thinks he will be a huge success 💯
Partly thanks to his phenomenal eyesight 👀…#ClubPrairieFire pic.twitter.com/uDr6JJM6xe
— Club Prairie Fire (@clubprairiefire) January 10, 2024
David Warner retires:
David Warner has announced his retirement from Tests as well as ODIs although he is open to returning to the ODI team in 2025 for the Champions Trophy. The southpaw retired from Tests as Australia’s most successful opener. No Australian opener has scored more runs than David Warner in the longest format of the game. The southpaw played 112 Tests and scored 8786 runs with the help of 26 centuries and 37 half-centuries.
