Australia’s Steve Smith admits he was surprised to see Joe Root overlooked by England for the forthcoming Twenty20 series between the sides, taking his omission as confirmation of the hosts’ “all-out power” game.
Test captain Root has been left out despite the ongoing absence of Ben Stokes and an injury to Jason Roy, suggesting England’s selectors are moving on from arguably their most accomplished technical batsman when it comes to the shorter format.
Australia have taken the opposite route, drafting their most dominant red-ball player – Smith – back into the T20 lineup after a three-year absence between 2016 and 2019 and handing him the kind of ‘designated driver’ brief Root aspires to in a side full of power-hitters and innovators.
“It’s a surprise. Joe is a terrific player across all formats of the game,” Smith told the PA news agency in his first interview since arriving from Australia.
“We’ll just do our bit, coming here to play some cricket, and hopefully there’s plenty of viewers on TV, yelling abuse at it!
“I know so much hard work has been going on behind the scenes enabling this series to happen. Sport, and particularly cricket, is such a big part of our culture in Australia and England. It’s great we were able to get the pieces of the puzzle together for us to come over here and play this series to get our cricket up and running again.
“It was nice to have a bit of a relax and refresh, get the body in good condition and the mind in a good place… just relax into living somewhat of a normal life. That was nice for a little while but I’m certainly itching to get back into it.
“Hopefully we can put on a good show.”
