Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said that internal discussions are going on regarding the batting position of Steve Smith. The veteran batter was promoted to the top of the order after David Warner’s retirement earlier this year. The move has given Australia a chance to allocate Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh in the playing XI as well.

So far, Smith has featured in two series as an opener. Apart from a fighting fifty in the day-night clash against the West Indies at The Gabba, he failed to step up. He struggled against the new ball in testing New Zealand conditions too.

“That’s the question on everyone’s lips, isn’t it? Whilst we’ve got an eye to it, we haven’t made any firm decisions around that one. There’s plenty of speculation around that. But in the background, I’d be lying if I said the conversation wasn’t happening. There are conversations around a lot of what ifs in terms of that Test summer that is to come,” McDonald told SEN ahead of the England tour. “We’ll unveil everything, and we’ll let (NSW coach) Greg Shipperd know what our plans are and then we’ll see what he does with his New South Wales side should Steve Smith play Shield cricket,” he added.

However, Steve Smith is among a few senior players along with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon, who could play in the Sheffield Shield to prepare for the upcoming home season.

“What am I willing to share? Not a lot at this stage. All I can say is the conversation’s happening. Clearly, Patty Cummins as the captain is a big part of that, he’s rehabbing at the moment, he’s not over here (in the UK),” McDonald said in the same interaction.”We’ve already had some chats in Sydney initially around what we’re thinking for the summer, and that goes right down to depth bowling and what it looks like, all those hypotheticals and what ifs that we always go through. Clearly, if we make a shift with Steve Smith, then someone else will have to go to the top,” Andrew McDonald concluded.