Australia

Steve Smith is Australia’s Mr Fix-It in the batting order at T20 World Cup


Steve Smith is the Bob the Builder of the Australian team at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Can he fix it? Yes he can!

“My job is basically to fix it if our top order doesn’t come off, build a partnership with whoever I’m batting with at the time at that stage, if our top order do go well, the likelihood is I’ll slide slightly down the order and let our big strong boys go out and attack it,” Smith said.

“I think I’ve done it pretty well in our trial games and our first game against South Africa.”

Mr Fix-it made 35 off 34 balls in the win over South Africa, as well as 57 (vs India) and 35 (vs New Zealand) in the two practice games.

Smith is more than capable of clearing the boundary rope himself and will adjust his role according to the match situation.

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“I know what I need to do, the rest of the team knows my role, I think we’re all very clear on the way we all want to play, that clarity’s there, it’s just about going and doing it.”

Australia boasts plenty of power hitters like Mitch Marsh, Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis but the potential for more low scoring games on spin-friendly pitches could mean the 32-year-old Smith is a trump card.

“You need the ability to get off strike and manipulate the ball to certain areas, more than just the power,” said Smith.

“You’ve just gotta sum up conditions on any given day, in the IPL playing on these wickets there was a lot of really scrappy cricket, not huge scores, which made the games pretty interesting and quite close, which is exciting as well.

While embracing his Mr Fix-it role, Smith believes an imminent return to form from openers David Warner and Aaron Finch means he won’t be required to do as many repair jobs in coming games, beginning with the next match on Thursday against Sri Lanka.

“Sometimes T20 can be like that, you can go on a run of outs and then you play a couple of good shots and you’re away,” said Smith.

“We’ve got plenty of faith in the guys at the top of the order, they’re experienced, they’ve done the job for many years.

“Davey looked exceptionally sharp out in the middle playing against (Kagiso) Rabada and (Anrich) Nortje; his feet were moving really well, he hit some beautiful shots, those guys are working hard, I’ve no doubt they’ll turn it around.”

The former Australian captain missed tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh with an elbow injury. A man who’s known for batting almost every minute of the day has had to change his ways.

“On the days I’m batting I’m batting for as long as I really want to, which is nice.

“I’m still taking it easy at the moment, just making sure I’m only batting two days in a row, not three days in a row, and I’ll build up again as we get closer to playing some longer formats,” said Smith.

And when long-form cricket arrives, it will be a summer against the old enemy, England.

Smith has welcomed the news that match-winning all-rounder Ben Stokes has committed to the Ashes tour. Stokes had taken time out from cricket to focus on his mental health and recover from a finger injury.

“I think any team’s more dangerous when you’ve got someone like Ben Stokes playing so it certainly adds a lot to their depth,” he said.

“Credit to Ben to be able to make that decision and step away and make sure he’s right to be able to go out and play and live his life, there’s more out there sometimes than just the game of cricket.”



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