Steve Smith has ruled out any hope of an 11th hour call-up to Australia’s T20 Cricket World Cup squad despite fans clamouring for his return on the back of outrageous BBL form. Smith produced an innings for the ages in the Sydney Sixers’ five-wicket win over Sydney Thunder on Friday night, clubbing nine sixes and five fours in his 42-ball 100 before a full house at the SCG.
In the first of the surge overs, the champion right-hander smashed four consecutive sixes in taking a record 32 runs from the over. That’s after one of his earlier maximums clattered into the roof of the Brewongle Stand and was measured at 107m.
Steve Smith’s extraordinary BBL century for the Sydney Sixers has raised further questions around his omission from Australia’s T20 World Cup squad. Pic: Getty
Smith’s extraordinary innings has made headlines around the cricketing world and left fans asking how on earth he missed a spot in Australia’s squad for the T20 World Cup starting next month in India and Sri Lanka. His omission barely rated a mention at the time but Smith’s stunning form in the BBL over the past two seasons has fans demanding a re-think.
He has scored 292 runs in his last four innings at an average of 146, recording a strike rate of 238.09 in his demolition job on the hapless Thunder. Cricket commentator and podcaster Andrew Menczel led the call for an international return, tweeting: “Get him back in the Aussie T20 team!! Are you telling me Matt Short is better than Steve Smith?”
One fan added: “The push for JFM (Jake Fraser-McGurk) to play in the 2024 T20 World Cup swept a nation and always felt a bit ridiculous. The same public push should happen for Smith, especially because there is an actual serious weight of runs behind him.”
Steve Smith targets Olympics after divisive World Cup snub
But Smith is not expecting a return to the Australian set-up should injury open up a spot ahead of next month’s tournament. “Not the World Cup. I think that’s already done and dusted,” he said when asked if he still held out hope of a recall.
“Maybe the Olympics in a few years (2028), that’s been one of my big goals. I’d love to be part of an Olympics and that’s why I stopped playing one-day cricket …to give myself more opportunities to play Big Bash and a few other tournaments around the world and keep putting my name up there. That’s essentially it.”
Steve Smith celebrates his stunning century for the Sydney Sixers in their BBL victory over the Thunder. Pic: Getty
(Matt King – CA via Getty Images)
Australian selectors named a provisional 15-man T20 World Cup squad earlier this month but there are still fitness concerns over Tim David, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Countries have until a week before the tournament starts to make changes to their squad, pending International Cricket Council (ICC) approval.