Smith defends sponsorship after Baird comments

Steve Smith has dismissed the suggestion from NSW premier Mike Baird that a beer logo on the national team’s uniform is inappropriate.

Asked about the premier’s statement yesterday, Smith pointed out cricket’s ‘Know When to Declare’ program as an example of Australian cricket’s awareness of the nation’s binge-drinking culture and the proactive measures being taken to fight it.

“I don’t think we have any problem with it,” Smith said with regards to the VB sponsorship. “We actively try to get out messages.

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“We’ve got the ‘Know when to declare’ campaign, so we’re actively trying to restrict the level of consumption of alcohol to a responsible level. That’s pretty important for us.”

Baird had been speaking at a Fundraiser for the Thomas Kelly Foundation in Sydney on Wednesday night.

Kelly was killed by an alcohol-fuelled ‘coward punch’ in 2012, aged 18.

“I find it quite an incredible position where the captain of our cricket team sits there with a big VB on the middle (of his shirt),” Baird said. “We all love the captain of our cricket team, but I find that an incredible position.”

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Smith was yesterday named as a Sydney Sixers ambassador for the Sony Foundation's You Can Program, which aims to raise funds and awareness for youth cancer.

The 26-year-old, who took the top job full-time after the retirement of Michael Clarke following Australia’s Ashes loss, said there was a difference between endorsing the sponsorship of the company and promoting binge drinking.

“We’re promoting the brand,” he said. “Not the consumption of alcohol.”

Smith won the backing of his predecessor Clarke this week, with the 115-Test veteran saying his fellow New South Welshman would handle both the captaincy and his role as the team’s best batsman capably.

"I think the positive for Smithy is he's at the top of his game right now and that's probably the best time to take over the captaincy,” Clarke told Fairfax.

“He's comfortable with his batting and how he's going about it.

“He's just going to have to manage both and I think he's smart enough to do that.

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“I want to see the boys go to Bangladesh and have success and I'm pretty sure they will – there's plenty of talent in that team – so now it's just going to take time for them to play together and build that camaraderie.”

Smith scored centuries in all three Tests in which he captained against India last summer, for one win and two draws, and now leads a team full of fresh faces to the foreign conditions of Bangladesh for two Tests next month.

With Australia’s selectors left with little choice but to take some calculated gambles on their selections following a glut of recent retirements, Clarke said sometimes throwing players in at the deep end was the only way for them to prove their mettle – as he did with a century on debut in 2004.

“The one thing I know about this game is people ask 'is so-and-so good enough?',” he said.

“Well, you don't know unless they're given an opportunity.

“I think about my Test debut and was I good enough then?

“I have no idea and I'm sure the people around me had no idea. But they made a call and thankfully I was able to fulfil that potential.

“I think Australia is in very good hands (with its young players) and now it's just about opportunity.”