Ashes 2023: Steve Smith says all options on table for Sydney Test XI

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Ahead of the final Ashes Test at the SCG, Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith stated the team’s playing XI is not yet decided. He said all options are on the table, and the final call will be made after assessing the green-looking pitch.

Australia’s Test stand-in captain Steve Smith said that the team is yet to decide on the final playing 11 for the last and final Ashes Test, set to be played at th Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from January 4. Australia will come into the SCG Test having reclaimed the Ashes, leading the series 3-1. While Ben Stokes-led England, who won the fourth Ashes Test, named spinner Shoaib Bashir in the 12-member squad for the SCG Test, Smith said Australia would decide on their final 11 only after getting a proper assessment of the Sydney pitch and that all “options are on the table currently”.

‘All options are on the table’

“Nah, haven’t had a chance to look at the wicket this morning, so all options are on the table currently. Yeah, obviously hasn’t had a great deal of sunlight, so yeah, need to check it out, see what it looks like. It still looked pretty green yesterday, so yeah, we need another look at it,” Smith said during the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

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Smith said team selection will depend on the pitch, with Australia considering various combinations, including different all-rounder and spin options. “Could play a couple of all-rounders. Could play a spinner. Could play no spinner. We’ll figure it out once we see the surface and see which way we want to go about it,” Smith said.

“No-one’s locked in yet. As I said before, we haven’t picked a team. There’s 13 or 14 guys on the table and we want to see that we can see how we match up against that,” Smith added.

Aiming for series win after MCG loss

Australia faced a four-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the fourth Test of the ongoing five-match series, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Reflecting on the loss, Smith said, “It was disappointing last week to go down. We were outplayed at the back end of that game. So yeah, hopefully we can turn it around here, win this series 4-1, and now more importantly, I suppose, just win a Test in the Test Championship cycle.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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