{"id":80511,"date":"2024-01-15T00:32:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T00:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/?p=80511"},"modified":"2024-01-15T00:33:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T00:33:06","slug":"smith-reveals-cheeky-text-to-uzzie-that-confirmed-shock-move-wild-proposal-to-save-test-cricket-daily-bbb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/smith-reveals-cheeky-text-to-uzzie-that-confirmed-shock-move-wild-proposal-to-save-test-cricket-daily-bbb\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith reveals cheeky text to Uzzie that confirmed shock move; wild proposal to save Test cricket: Daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Smith has opened up on the cheeky text message he sent Usman Khawaja to break the news he\u2019d join him at the top of the Australian batting order.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, West Indies coach Andre Coley has pitched a radical suggestion to international cricket powerbrokers to save the Test format globally.<\/p>\n

Steve Smith has revealed the contents of a text message he sent to new opening partner Usman Khawaja after it was confirmed the former Aussie skipper would replace David Warner at the top of the order.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Smith said he asked Khawaja who should face the first ball in Australia\u2019s first innings for their upcoming Test against the West Indies at the Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI randomly sent him a message, I don\u2019t think he knew I was opening yet and I said, \u2018Do you want the first one or should I take it?\u2019. He sent back, \u2018Opening?\u2019, and was like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m in\u2019,\u201d Smith\u00a0revealed to SEN.<\/p>\n

Smith said that his name only began to be considered as Warner\u2019s replacement after the completion of the Sydney Test against Pakistan. Within just a few days, Smith\u2019s shift up the order was confirmed by head selector George Bailey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve sort of been saying it for a little while but probably not taken as seriously as I was coming across until about a week ago,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we\u2019ve got a good player in Cameron Green who has been sitting on the sidelines. Someone that is suited to bat in the middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen from my point of view, I\u2019ve been sitting there waiting at number four to bat for a long period of time and I\u2019m keen to just get out there and play. I said I\u2019m keen to get up there, face the new ball and get amongst it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had those conversations after the last game in Sydney and here we landed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chatted to \u2018Ron\u2019 (coach Andrew McDonald) and Patty (Cummins) and said I\u2019m keen, I\u2019m interested to have a new challenge up top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not foreign to the new ball, a lot of the time I\u2019ve actually batted my best when I\u2019ve come in really early.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2019 Ashes is a prime example of that. I was basically opening the batting there so it\u2019s nothing foreign, it\u2019s something I enjoy and I was keen to get up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after his new role in the side was confirmed, Smith opened the batting for BBL side Sydney Sixers, but flamed out with a golden duck.<\/p>\n

Smith joked to Khawaja after that effort, that he probably shouldn\u2019t face the first pill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually haven\u2019t decided who is taking the first one yet, but after I got out first ball the other night (in the BBL) I was like \u2018Uz, maybe you should take it\u2019\u201d, he revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not fussed. It doesn\u2019t matter when you face your first ball, whether you\u2019re opening or batting at four or whatever, it\u2019s all the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Smith is aware of the new challengers he\u2019ll face moving up the order.<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019s also keen to take advantage of some of the pros of opening, which include trying to expose attacking fields seen early in an innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty game, I suppose, with a brand new ball; bowling short stuff and wasting it,\u201d Smith told reporters at the Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it helps the scoring rate for sure when you\u2019re facing the new ball and there\u2019s a bit more attacking going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last few years I\u2019ve come in after quite a lot of runs, the ball is a bit softer, you have a cover in and maybe four on the leg side and guys are bowling straight and able to control the scoreboard a little bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably kept me quieter and made me face a lot more balls to score runs. So perhaps that changes a bit with the new ball, you have a bit more attacking fields and more gaps out there to score runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

WINDIES\u2019 COACH\u2019S SUGGESTION TO SAVE TEST CRICKET WORLDWIDE<\/b><\/p>\n

The West Indies will unveil a largely inexperienced side for the first Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, with many players prioritising richer domestic cricket leagues elsewhere, forcing coach Andre Coley to pitch a radical suggestion to save the Test format.<\/p>\n

The tourists will be without former captain Jason Holder and gun all-rounder Kyle Mayers for the two-match series, with the West Indies bringing seven uncapped players to Australia.<\/p>\n

Holder has elected to miss the series to prepare for next year\u2019s T20 World Cup while Mayers will be in South Africa to feature in a T20 competition called SA20.<\/p>\n

It begs the question whether there is enough incentive for West Indian players to choose Test matches over other profitable options on the calandar.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0interview with the Herald Sun<\/a>, Coley has \u201cconcerns\u201d over the longevity of Test cricket and believes changing the current format from five days to four will go a long way in making it more \u201cattractive to white-ball players\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"West
West Indies coach Andre Coley (right). (Photo by RANDY BROOKS\/AFP via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou may have to consider potentially Test matches making them four days. Because you look at the pace of Test matches, the majority of matches are finished in four days,\u201d Coley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it may be to create more time to make it more relevant maybe potentially instead of five days, maybe four days. Which is closer in line with first-class cricket and the pace of play and so on. Which then makes it even more attractive for white-ball players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longevity of Test cricket is a global concern. To find time to play more than two or three Test matches in a series is becoming increasingly difficult with the increase in the number of franchise tournaments that are being played around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to accept the reality of where we are in the scheme of things, you know the different formats and which one has actually been gaining more popularity and so on. So our plan is really to work as best as possible to have the best team available to play international cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we still believe that playing red-ball cricket is the way to go if you want to actually learn the game and extend your time in playing because if you look at it the majority of the best white-ball players are established or were established red-ball players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to be said around having a grounding in that game in that format. And it\u2019s still alive. Even though the windows it is played is shrinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite a lacklustre crowd in Perth for the first Test against Pakistan this summer, the fans that rolled into the MCG and SCG in the subsequent games of the series proved that Test cricket is still king<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Smith has opened up on the cheeky text message he sent Usman Khawaja to break the news he\u2019d join him at the top of the Australian… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}