Veteran Australian batter Steve Smith has expressed uncertainty over his participation in the next year’s Ashes as he looks to shift his entire focus to the shortest format of the game. Having appeared in 125 Test matches, Smith is one of Australia's highly successful batters, remaining the fourth-highest run-scorer for the side in the longest format. However, he is not sure whether or not he will be there at the Ashes 2027.
"I don't even know if I’ll be there yet. I’m in kind of a series-by-series proposition, as I’ve been for a while, and that’s still a fair way away for me right now. I’d love to win one there or to have won one there, but you wait and see if that comes to fruition,” Smith told The Telegraph in an interview.
As of now, Smith’s focus remains on Australia’s next test assignment, which is against South Africa next month. Notably, It will be the first time Smith returns to South Africa since the infamous ball tampering scandal back in 2018.
“For me, it’s just another series,” Smit said.
“All that happened a long time ago, and we’ve played a lot of cricket and have been back to South Africa since then for one-dayers. They’re a good side at the moment, obviously beat us in the World Test Championship final. They have a really good pace attack as well, so should be a cracker of a series.”
Smith admitted that he remains firmly committed to T20 cricket as he hopes to feature for Australia at the 2028 LA Olympics. Smith is currently representing Amsterdam Flames in the European T20 Premier League in Dublin.
“Right now probably it’s just the Olympics, to try to be a part of that,” Smith said.
“One of the reasons why I wanted to play with Amsterdam here was just to continue playing as much T20 cricket as I can. I was keen immediately to come and play in a new market and, hopefully, share some experiences with the local players and associate players: share a dressing room with them and try to impart some of my knowledge on to them. It’s been really good.”