Former Australia captain Michale Clarke has criticized the Australian selection policy after veteran Steve Smith was chosen in the national squad for the T20I series against South Africa and also that he will be opening the batting.
Notably, Smith has not made a single fifty in his last 23 T20Is for Australia, since November 2019. He has scored 431 runs at an average of 22.68 with a strike rate of 121 and a high score of 46. No other Australian batter with 200 runs has a lower strike rate in this period.
In the 2021 T20 World Cup, which Australia won, Smith made 69 runs at 23 and a dismal strike rate of 97 in four matches and then failed to reach 20 seven times in his next nine innings. After a disappointing run in the warm-up matches of the 2022 T20 World Cup, where he made 8, 9, 17, and 7*, he was not selected for the XI at the main event.
However, he showcased his T20 batting skills in the last edition of the Big Bash League when he scored 101 (56) and 125 (66) for Sydney Sixers in successive matches while opening the innings.
George Bailey, the chair of selectors, has confirmed that Smith will be filling in the role during the upcoming T20Is against South Africa.
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“I don’t understand. That, to me, is embarrassing for the selectors. They had him in the World Cup squad last year, and he couldn’t make the XI. He doesn’t get a game, we go terribly in the World Cup.
Selections over the past 15 months have been absolutely confusing. Smith not playing in that World Cup, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There’s just no accountability. It’s just swept under the carpet. I feel like I’m just watching a different game,” Clarke told Big Sports Breakfast.
“I don’t know what they’re thinking with Smithy in the T20s. I don’t think he’s playing any other T20 cricket around the world. He’s not getting a gig in the IPL, didn’t get picked up there,” he added.
The first T20I between South Africa and Australia will be played on August 30.
