The saga said much about Smith, a wilful genius with waning powers, and also about the national selectors.
Even before Pat Cummins confirmed in January that Steve Smith would move up the order to open after David Warner’s retirement, numerous figures in and around the team were making eerily accurate predictions.
The saga said much about Smith. He is a batting genius but a wilful individual, who has for some time been searching for a way back to the batting automaton mode that exemplified his best years, capped by a truly remarkable 2019 Ashes. Just as clear-headed is the realisation that, at 35, Smith’s powers are waning in much the same way as they will for all players who have put themselves through the “grind” of more than 100 Test matches.
Smith’s campaign to open, and then not to open, also demonstrated the lighter touch of decision-makers around the team in the era of Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald. This has been construed at times as a case of the selectors making themselves redundant, as the players run the show.
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