Smith loving life at the top in T20s as SCG nears sell out

Steve Smith is relishing his new freedom at the top of the T20 batting order but he's not ready to declare himself David Warner's new opening partner just yet.

The pair will go head-to-head tomorrow night in the second Sydney Smash of the season at what is looming as a sold out SCG with only 3000 tickets remaining on Friday evening.

But with Australia T20 skipper Aaron Finch's future uncertain following his one-day international retirement last September, it is Smith's success at the top of the order in his two KFC BBL|12 appearances so far that has many wondering if he has finally found his spot in the shortest format.

Warner has previously stated he is targeting the next T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean in mid-2024 as the perfect swansong to his international career.

Smith, however, is less certain of his T20 future after being left out of Australia's side for all bar one game during last year's World Cup on home soil, with the nation's next T20 international not scheduled until September in South Africa.

"I'm just going out and playing and doing my best and I guess we'll wait and see what the future holds," he told reporters on Friday.

"There's a while until another T20 international anyway, so I'm pretty chilled just playing and enjoying myself."

Opening in T20s is Smith's most damaging position, according to data provided by Opta, striking at 149 from seven innings, which is significantly higher than his career strike rate of 126.

And it's his best batting position by average as well (minimum 100 balls faced) at 43.28, while his most prolific spot in the order has been No.3 where he's scored 2151 runs at 35.85.

Aside from the Sixers this season, Smith has opened previously in the Indian Premier League for Delhi Capitals in 2021 (39 runs in a solitary innings) and Rajasthan Royals in 2020 where he hit 127 runs in four innings.

"I like it up top, who wouldn't want to open in T20 cricket," he said.

"It gives you a chance to play the ball as you see it early on, get yourself in and then once the fielders go out, you're in and ready to play your shots.

"It's been good fun and hopefully we can have some more success tomorrow night."

As for the prospect of opening with Warner, Smith said he hadn't thought that far ahead but admitted the two of them had batted together countless times before and knew each other's game inside out.

"I'm not reading too much into it, I'm enjoying it at the moment batting up top, so we'll wait and see," he said.

Smith – who overnight announced a three-game county stint with Sussex in May prior to this year's Ashes – is nursing a bruised leg heading into the Sixers clash with the Thunder tomorrow night following some friendly fire at training.

The 33-year-old revealed he had inside edged the ball into himself "trying to smack it" three times over the last week – twice in the nets and once against the Strikers' Wes Agar in Coffs Harbour last Tuesday.

"I've always had fun playing in the Big Bash with the Sixers, it's a tremendous franchise to be involved with and I've been here since day one so it's a great vibe (this season)," Smith said.

"It's not about me or him (Warner), it's about the two franchises coming up against one another (tomorrow night) and there's always been that crosstown rivalry so it should be a good night."

Warner, meanwhile, says he is keen to play the first weekend of the BBL|12 finals should the Thunder qualify and a win tomorrow night would go a huge way to ensuring just that.

However, all players selected for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series in India next month will be unavailable for The Challenger and Final with the Australian squad set to depart on January 31.

Saturday's Sydney Smash begins at 7.05pm (AEDT) and will be broadcast live on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports. Kayo offers a free trial for new subscribers, and you can sign up for that here.

Sixers squad v Thunder: Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Dan Christian, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Izharulhaq Naveed, Steve O'Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Josh Philippe, Jordan Silk, Steve Smith

Thunder squad v Sixers: Ben Cutting, Joel Davies, Oliver Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Gilkes, Toby Gray, Chris Green (c), Baxter Holt, Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Ross Pawson, Usman Qadir, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, David Warner, Sam Whiteman