Australia squad for Test series vs India, Steve Smith won’t open, Cameron Green injury, George Bailey press conference, Border-Gavaskar Trophy, video #adessonews

National selector George Bailey has revealed that Steve Smith won’t open the batting against India this summer but didn’t confirm whether he’d return to the No. 4 position.

Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Bailey confirmed that Smith had “expressed a desire” to move back down the order for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, opening the door for a specialist opener to join the Test starting XI.

Last summer, the New South Welshman reinvented himself as an opener following David Warner’s retirement, facing the new ball in four Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand and scoring 171 runs at 28.50.

However, after consulting coach Andrew McDonald and captain Pat Cummins, Smith is expected to return to the middle order this summer, potentially replacing the injured Cameron Green at second drop.

“Pat (Cummins), Andrew (McDonald) and Steve Smith have been having ongoing conversations, separate to the untimely injury to Cameron anyway,” Bailey explained.

“Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position, and Pat and Andrew have confirmed that he will be dropping back down the order for the summer.

“Clearly we’ve got a number four spot to fill and an opening spot to fill.”

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However, Bailey refused to confirm whether Smith would slot directly back into the No. 4 position where he has previously batted on 111 occasions.

“We’ve got another four weeks until that Test squad’s announced, and what exact order and who is in it and how they line up will be determined,” Bailey continued.

“As far as the (batting) order goes, you’ll have to direct that towards Pat and Andrew at the appropriate time.

“The decision for Steve to go to the top of the order (last summer) was firmly with an eye to finding a way to get Cam Green back into the line-up and getting what we considered our best six batters into the same line-up.

“Like anything, that can adjust depending on what’s available, your conditions, who you’re coming up against as well.”

Bailey reiterated that Australia would select the nation’s six best batters for the India series, which means Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitch Marsh will be expected to carry the bowling loads for the five-Test campaign.

“We will miss Cam, no doubt about that,” Bailey said.

“Any time you have an injury to an important player, or a player who’s in your first-choice XI, there’s contingencies around that, and you adjust and move on.

“Hopefully Cam’s surgery goes really well.

“(Having an all-rounder) is a luxury. The three quicks that we generally play in Test cricket, they’ve played a lot of Test cricket together where they haven’t had an all-rounder as well. It certainly depends on the personnel that are available at any one time.

“You don’t know how each Test is going to play out in terms of the workload for the quicks, or how much of an impact Nathan Lyon’s going to have across the summer.

“We certainly have been and will continue preparing Mitch Marsh to be able to bowl some overs as well, and that’s been part of his management for the last couple of months.

“We’ve been a team that has played without an all-rounder in the past. There’s more than one way to structure up a team.”

West Australian opener Cameron Bancroft, who notched a pair during last week’s Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Perth, looms as the leading candidate to replace Green in Australia’s Test XI.

The 31-year-old has been the most consistent opener in the Sheffield Shield over the past 24 months, compiling 1728 runs at 54.00 during that period including ten hundreds.

“He’s certainly got credits in the bank,” Bailey said.

“His consistency over a number of years has been phenomenal.

“A one-off game like that wasn’t going to have any impact.”

Meanwhile, Bailey also suggested that New South Wales batting prodigy Sam Konstas, who scored twin centuries during last week’s Sheffield Shield match against South Australia in Sydney, was “in the mix” for a Test call-up.

The 19-year-old was named in the Australia A squad to face India A later this month, along with fellow openers Bancroft and Marcus Harris.

“If we make a selection, it’s because we think that player’s ready to play,” Bailey said.

“(Konstas) has had a good start. He’s five games into his first-class career, and he looks really organised and composed at the crease. It’s good recognition that he’s been given the opportunity to play Australia A, but I don’t think it’s to the detriment of how consistent Bancroft and Marcus Harris have been.

“He’s in the mix, as are plenty of others. I certainly don’t want to single him out.

“I don’t think there’s any need at this stage to put any undue pressure or expectation on Sam.

“There’s no priority to get younger players in. It’s just about trying to get the best players we can.”