Australian cricketer Steve Smith has vowed to continue his push for a national T20 recall after failing to be selected for the England tour.
The 35-year-old, who played his most recent of 67 T20Is in February, was not selected for the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean in June, where Australia failed to qualify for the semi-finals after suffering a historic defeat to Afghanistan.
Smith was again left out of the T20 squad for next month’s white-ball tour of Scotland and England despite the recent retirement of veteran opener David Warner, with national selectors preferring promising youngsters Cooper Connolly and Jake Fraser-McGurk.
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In an interview with Fox Cricket this week, Smith expressed his disappointment at being left out of the national T20 squad, admitting the team preferred “strong players who fight hard”.
“I don’t know what’s happening with the international T20s,” Smith said.
“They obviously have people they want to bring in, and that’s fine.
“I understood the way they wanted to build for the World Cup, with all the strong guys hitting the mile mark. I understood that.
“I’m not that picky. I just do my job and keep trying to improve and get better.”
Last month, Smith led Washington Freedom to their maiden Major League Cricket title, finishing as the franchise’s leading run-scorer in the T20 tournament with 336 runs at a strike rate of 148.67.
In the final against San Francisco Unicorns, which the Freedom won by 96 runs, Smith was named man of the match after scoring 88 (52) against a bowling attack featuring Australian captain Pat Cummins and Pakistan’s quick Haris Rauf.
Smith will be hoping to use his recent success in the T20 league to show the Australian selectors and the Indian Premier League franchises that he is still a formidable weapon in the shortest format of the game. The right-handed bowler has not played in the IPL since 2021 and went unsold in both of the previous auctions.
“I would love to get another chance in the IPL. I will put my name in the hat and see what happens,” Smith continued.
“I think I’ve done pretty well in all the opportunities I’ve had in recent T20 cricket and with the franchises, so I’m hoping to keep putting my name forward and enjoy it.”
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Meanwhile, Smith is hoping to play Big Bash cricket with Sydney 76ers in January after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ends, but is unlikely to be available for the final due to Australia’s Test tour of Sri Lanka starting in early February.
“To be honest, I never looked at the schedule,” Smith explained.
“But I’ve enjoyed playing for the Sixers every chance I’ve had. It’s a really great franchise with great people, and they’ve had a lot of success.
“Let’s see what happens. I want to play a few games.”
When asked about the temptation of winning gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Smith laughed and said: “That’s still a long way off, so let’s wait and see. Don’t ever say never.
“I watched (the Paris Olympics) quite a bit. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
“It’s great to watch and it’s great to see the Australian players do really well.”
