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Smith open to new selection approach

Australia captain says idea of picking players for foreign conditions could benefit Test team

Australia captain Steve Smith has stressed the need for greater adaptability from his fellow Test players, but concedes a ‘horses for courses’ approach to selection may be required for future tours. 

Australia’s shortcomings away from home were laid bare on their most recent Test tour to Sri Lanka.


The then-No.7 ranked Test side on the ICC Test charts ruthlessly exploited the tourists’ fragilities on foreign soil, inflicting a comprehensive 3-0 series whitewash.

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The result led outgoing National Selection Panel chairman Rod Marsh to suggest Australia squads for future Test tours will place a greater emphasis on players’ perceived ability in the destination’s conditions.

It’s an idea Smith has tentatively agreed with, stressing that while he wants his players to adapt better to playing abroad, he’s in favour of picking a side best-suited to handling the prevailing conditions.

“When I took over the captaincy, one of my main goals was to ensure we were doing well away from home,” he told cricket.com.au.

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“That’s something that none of the teams around the world have really done. They always play well in their own backyard but don’t play that well away.

“You want guys improving and getting better in those kinds of conditions (away from home).

“But I think you need to have the team that’s most suited to those conditions as well.

“You pick different teams from T20s to one-dayers to Tests, so why not sometime in the future pick teams for certain conditions?

“That could be a possibility somewhere down the track.”

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Australia’s squad for the first Test against South Africa, to be named next Friday (October 28), is expected to include top-order batsmen Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns despite both having been dropped for the final Test of the Sri Lanka tour.

The Queensland pair managed just 89 runs between them in the first two Tests of the series but both plundered runs against New Zealand and the West Indies in preceding series in Australia and across the Tasman.

But with a four-Test tour to India in February looming, where conditions are likely to mirror those Australia encountered in Sri Lanka, home form may not be as persuasive as it was last summer.

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“You want to see your Australian players playing well in any conditions,” Smith said. “That’s why they got picked in the Australian team to begin with.

“You want to see guys doing well (in all conditions).

“Having said that, the conditions (in Australia) are completely different to what you get in Sri Lanka. “Those guys (Burns and Khawaja) did a pretty good job last summer.

“We’ll have to wait and see which way the selectors want to go.”