“I Don’t Even Know If I’ll Be There Yet” – Steve Smith on His Ashes Future

Steve Smith has not confirmed whether he will play in Australia’s next Ashes campaign in England. The veteran batter is still taking his Test career one series at a time. Smith is 37 and has not yet made a decision on Australia’s tour of England next summer. A series win in England would be a major achievement for the former Australia captain.

“I don’t even know if I’ll be there yet,” Smith said in an interview with The Telegraph. “I’m in kind of a series-by-series proposition, as I’ve been for a while, and that’s still a fair way away for me right now. I’d love to win one there or to have won one there, but you wait and see if that comes to fruition.”

Australia face a busy Test schedule in the coming months. Their assignments include away series against South Africa, India and England. Smith’s immediate focus is on the upcoming three-Test series against South Africa.

Smith Returns to South Africa

The South Africa series will be Smith’s first Test trip back to the country since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. Smith is keen to leave that incident in the past and focus on the cricket.

“For me, it’s just another series,” Smith said. “All that happened a long time ago, and we’ve played a lot of cricket and have been back to South Africa since then for one-dayers. They’re a good side at the moment, obviously beat us in the World Test Championship final. They have a really good pace attack as well, so should be a cracker of a series.”

Smith’s Test future is still uncertain, but he has no plans to leave cricket completely. He remains interested in playing T20 cricket and has his sights on representing Australia at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Right now probably it’s just the Olympics to try to be a part of that,” Smith said.

He also explained why he wanted to play for Amsterdam in the European T20 Premier League. “One of the reasons why I wanted to play with Amsterdam [at the European T20 Premier League] was just to continue playing as much T20 cricket as I can.”

Smith Still Enjoying Cricket

Smith has not set a date for his retirement. The batter said his enjoyment of the game remains an important part of his decision. “I still like to think I could play T20 cricket for a while. What’s next for me when I finish? I’m not sure, but yeah, hopefully a bit more time left playing.

“I’ve achieved a lot in the game. It’s been a great ride for the last 15 years or thereabouts. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’m still enjoying it, so I don’t have an end date, we’ll wait and see. But it’s been a good ride.”

Smith also remains confident about his batting. He has averaged 49.4 over the last two years and has taken his Test century tally to 37. “I feel like I’m batting really nicely,” Smith said.

“I’ve found different ways to go about things on these tricky surfaces and still be able to score runs. So trying to contribute as well as I can for the team, score runs, take catches, help out in leadership areas where I need to. It’s been a good, fun couple of years.”

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