“If he [Smith] wants to open the batting and they give him the chance, he’ll be the No. 1 Test opener within 12 months,” Clarke told ESPN’s Around The Wicket show. “He’s that good a player. If you can bat at three you can bat anywhere in the order. Technically he’s good enough, lets the ball go well, he’s got a great eye, got beautiful hands.
“Yes, he might nick the occasional one or might get lbw but tell me someone who doesn’t. So if he opens the batting he’ll be the best opener within 12 months. [And] don’t be surprised if he breaks Brian Lara’s 400 record because he’s that good and now he’s got the whole day.”
But, following Cummins’ comments about how the batting order is successful in their current positions, Clarke can see Green being parachuted in at the top as the outcome.
“It sounds from what Patty says, he wants the least amount of disruptions as possible. Marnus has been brilliant, Smith’s four, Travis Head five, Mitch Marsh six. So that tells me that Cameron Green at this stage is probably the likeliest to come in and opening the batting.”
“I think he would prepare himself as well as anyone to open the batting if he decided he wanted to do that,” he told the show. “I’ve always been in the camp that you need a specialist opening batter but if it was Steve Smith coming to you and saying I want to open the batting, I think he’s looking for a challenge, that next motivation and inspiration I his career, and honestly if he took to that job I think he’d do it better than anyone else.”
“I think the selectors have always been really clear with Shield cricket being the ground they want guys to go back and perform in,” Bancroft said on Sunday. “There’s plenty examples of guys who have gone back and done that. I’m sure that’ll be a big part of what they’re looking at when they make that decision at the end of the day.”
