Cricket great calls for bold Smith move to solve Aussie ODI woes

Is Steve Smith as opener the answer to Australia’s ODI batting woes?

Get all the latest cricket news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!

Fox Cricket’s Adam Gilchrist believes the skipper will be crucial to Australia’s Champions Trophy hopes, starting next week.

“It’s a challenging one at the moment – maybe Steve Smith needs to open up there,” he said on ABC Radio after the brutal 2-0 series loss to Sri Lanka.

Australia have managed just two wins from their past eight ODI matches, while the openers are yet to put on more than a 21-run stand in the past five matches.

The failure at the top is putting pressure on the rest of the side, and so far Australia is yet to find the solution.

Gilchrist, who opened for Australia in ODIs, said he could see Travis Head and Matt Short as the preferred pairing moving forward – but didn’t want to count out Smith.

“Obviously Travis is going to be there whenever he’s fit and fresh and they are picking whatever is their best team,” he said.

“I like Matt Short being in there – that would be a nice combination left hand-right hand. That would be the preferable way for me to go. But I do think Steve Smith could open – we’ve seen him do it in T20 cricket really well.

“Maybe he’s too valuable in that middle order.

“I can’t see a reason why you wouldn’t want him facing as many balls as possible in a 50-over game – it would be a very viable option to get him up there.”

Smith is no stranger to opening in the shortened format, batting at the top for the Sydney Sixers in Big Bash.

His time as Test opener was short-lived, but the man himself says that wasn’t due to form.

“Particularly Marnus (Labuschagne) and Uzi (Khawaja), they hated me up top, to be honest,” Smith said back in October.

“They wanted me behind them. So that was a big part of it. And then, obviously, I’ve got a decent record at four.”

While the opener combination is one problem to solve, the form of Labuschagne is another for selectors.

Labuschagne missed the second ODI loss – where Australia was rolled for just 107 to post their second biggest loss to Sri Lanka – but Smith remains adamant his omission wasn’t purely form based.

“Marnus has done well under pressure, so I’m sure he’s going to be spoken about for that first one-day match in Pakistan,” he said after the 174-run loss on Friday.

“We were certainly trying a few different things.

“It was about everyone trying to get some time in the middle.

“We haven’t played one-day cricket for a little while and it was about getting back into the rhythm of it.”

Gilchrist said the fact Australia had “limited” ODIs in the lead up to the Sri Lanka series didn’t help with their form, as he predicted a “tough tournament” ahead in Pakistan.

“Obviously a huge summer … I think a lot of nations probably will focus more on 50-over cricket when it’s World Cup years,” he said.

“It might fall not off the cliff but fall over the wayside by focus.”

The Aussies will be without pace trio Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Starc, while Mitch Marsh is injured and Marcus Stoinis has retired from international duties.

They’ll first play England in the Champions Trophy on Saturday February 22 before their other pool matches against South Africa and then Afghanistan.