Australia legend Steve Smith has cast doubt on his participation in next summer’s Ashes, admitting he may retire from Test cricket before that point.
The 37-year-old, who currently plays for Amsterdam Flames in the European T20 Premier League, refused to commit to an appearance in the longer format, with his primary ambition in the twilight of his career targeting the Olympics in 2028.
Cricket will make its return to the Games in LA for the first time in 128 years, and only in T20 format.
Smith told The Telegraph: “Right now probably it’s just the Olympics [as a goal] to try to be a part of that. One of the reasons why I wanted to play with Amsterdam here was just to continue playing as much T20 cricket as I can.”
Referring to the 2027 Ashes, he said: “I don’t even know if I’ll be there yet. I’m 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. So, yeah, I’d love to win one there or to have won one there, but you wait and see if that comes to fruition.”
Smith has never won an Ashes on English soil but even the desire to finally tick off that milestone, after a career encompassing 125 Test matches and 37 centuries, is not enough to make him commit to the series – even while he remains the second-highest ranked Test batsman in the world, after Harry Brook.
He added: “I still like to think I could play T20 cricket for a while. What’s next for me when I finish? I’m not sure, but yeah, hopefully a bit more time left playing.
“I’ve achieved a lot in the game. It’s been a great ride for the last 15 years or thereabouts. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’m still enjoying it, so I don’t have an end date, we’ll wait and see. But it’s been a good ride.”
Australia play three Tests in South Africa next month – in what will be Smith’s first visit there since the infamous sandpaper affair eight years ago and his year-long ban from the international game.
He was quick to dismiss the significance of that, saying: “Oh, for me, it’s just another series. All that happened a long time ago, and we’ve played a lot of cricket – we’ve been back to South Africa since then for one-dayers. It should be a cracker of a series.”
