Smith still firmly in Aussies' World Cup plans

Steve Smith remains firmly in Australia's planning for the upcoming T20 World Cup despite being left out of the starting XI in last night's final-ball win over New Zealand, with the former skipper flagged to play as opener in at least one of the remaining games against the Black Caps.

Smith's place in the T20 pecking order has been a source of ongoing speculation given he's not played in the T20 international format since late last year, and a number of other contenders for top-order batting berths at the World Cup have staked claims ahead of him.

But Australia men's team coach Andrew McDonald confirmed Smith will get an opportunity at Eden Park in Auckland, where the current T20 campaign against NZ will be completed tomorrow and Sunday.

And McDonald suggested that chance would come in Smith's new guise as an opening batter, most likely partnering David Warner as the Australia brains trust balance fine-tuning for the World Cup in June alongside preparation for two Tests against the Black Caps from next week.

Following their shock Test loss to West Indies last month, and NZ's 2-0 triumph over a weakened South Africa that carried them to the top of the ICC's World Test Championship table, Australia have identified the two Tests at Wellington and Christchurch as a principal focus of this tour.

That will ensure some players involved in both formats – including Smith and preferred T20 opener Travis Head – will fuse their limited-overs commitments with red-ball training when the other members of the Test squad arrive in Auckland this weekend.

But even though he's made just two T20I appearances in the past 15 months – both against India in a bilateral series that followed last year's ODI World Cup win – Smith is firmly in the mix for this year's 20-over showpiece tournament in the Caribbean and USA.

"If he wasn't in our thinking then he wouldn't be on the plane over here," McDonald said of Smith following Australia's thrilling first-up win over NZ at Wellington on Wednesday evening.

"We're playing him for a reason.

"He'll get some opportunity here, he had some opportunities in India at the back end of a World Cup and we were planning for him to play in South Africa as well going as far back as August-September (last year), but he unfortunately had a wrist injury at the time, so he missed those three one-dayers.

"But he's definitely in the thoughts.

"We'll probably play him in a slightly different role to what we've seen in previous World Cups in T20 cricket.

"He's gone to the top of the order in recent times, so batting high up there's still competition for places.

"I suppose that's a good problem to have."

With Warner and Head identified as the likely opening combination when the World Cup kicks off in early June, Smith's role would currently seem to be auxiliary top-order batter with skipper Mitchell Marsh (three), Glenn Maxwell (four) and last night's hero Tim David (six) settled in the order.

The selectors must also choose between keeper-batters Matthew Wade and Josh Inglis, while allrounder Matt Short was not required with either bat or ball during the boundary blitz at Wellington and remains in a duel for that middle-order berth with seam-bowling allrounders including Marcus Stoinis (currently injured).

While the three-match series against New Zealand will provide valuable pointers towards the final 15-man squad Australia take to the World Cup, McDonald claimed performances in the subsequent Indian Premier League – where a number of his players are involved – will also figure prominently in selection discussions.

"There's 20 players that are in our thinking, we're not settled in terms of the final 15 at this stage and that's why these games are really important," McDonald said.

"And we've got a lot of our players in IPL as well, so we get another look at what certain players are doing in that competition which is probably the biggest connection to international cricket.

"I think it's the best competition in the world, in terms of domestic format.

"We're not going to get to a final 11 as we sit here, but we'll work through to a 15 and give ourselves as many options in that 15 to negate what the West Indies surfaces will challenge us with."

It also seems likely Australia's 'big three' fast bowlers, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – who last night played their first T20I together since the 2022 World Cup in Australia – will be spelled at various times in the remaining two NZ matches to prepare for Test duties.

Australia have back-up quicks Nathan Ellis and Spencer Johnson in their current touring party, and McDonald saw enough from the experienced trio in last night's bat-dominated series opener to indicate they will be ready to go for World Cup campaign in June.

Cummins and Starc will both have opportunities to further hone their T20 skills during the upcoming IPL, while Hazelwood – who was part of the recent Dettol limited-overs series against West Indies – won’t feature in that tournament as he returns home on paternity leave.

"For Starcy and for Patty, to come back in and execute the way they did, I thought they were really impressive," McDonald said of the pair who returned four-over figures of 1-39 and 1-43 respectively on the batter-friendly Wellington Stadium pitch.

"The way they sequenced, it was an unforgiving surface and small boundaries so some of the figures don't look that good in isolation, but when you put it into the relative terms across the game they've held up pretty well.

"There's no doubt there's a challenge to transition (to white-ball cricket), and we feel it's an opportunity for them to play together to get ready for a World Cup.

"And we've got a Test series as well coming up so there will be a bit of rotation in and amongst the three games."

The small square boundaries at Wellington will contrast to the short, straight scoring zones at Eden Park but bowlers are again expected to come under extreme pressure in the final two matches of this campaign.

That was the case for spinners in game one, where Australia pair Maxwell and Adam Zampa finished with collective figures of 0-74 from five overs while Black Caps duo Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi returned 2-84 from eight as Australia completed the highest successful T20I chase at the venue.

Last night's game also represented the fourth time in as many T20 internationals that Australia's bowlers have conceded scores above 200.

However, McDonald pointed to the fact three of those have resulted in victories for his team – against West Indies at Hobart and Adelaide, as well as the Wellington triumph – and claimed the big totals are symptomatic of conditions and mindset as teams prepare for the upcoming World Cup.

"I think the surfaces, the venues, the size of the boundaries, there's a lot of things to take into account when you're scoring 200-plus," he said.

"The freedom with which teams are playing leading into a World Cup, there's a little bit of 'okay, how far can we push it as a batting unit, what sort of totals do we need?'.

"That brings about a freedom, but whether you see that in a World Cup, that type of freedom in a tournament play, will be interesting to see.

"At the moment, in the bilateral series, we're seeing that and it makes for good, entertaining cricket."

Qantas Tour of New Zealand

February 21: First T20: Australia win by six wickets with 0 balls to spare

February 23: Second T20, Auckland, 5.10pm AEDT

February 25: Third T20, Auckland, 11am AEDT

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

New Zealand T20 squad: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult

February 29 – March 4: First Test, Wellington, 9am AEDT

March 8-12: Second Test, Christchurch, 9am AEDT

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc

New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.