Former Australia player Matthew Hayden feels that Steve Smith can play a key role during the ICC World Cup in assisting captain Pat Cummins to overcome his inexperience at the ODI level as well. Despite leading the team in 21 Tests, Pat Cummins has only led the side in two ODIs after the retirement of Aaron Finch. During the tour of India earlier this year, he returned home, and former captain Steve Smith led the team, leading the side to a 2-1 series win as well.
In a conversation during a recent event in Mumbai, Matthew Hayden said: “It’s got to help, there’s no doubt about it. But between the other characters like Steve Smith – you’ve seen how visible he is when Pat’s got the ball in his hand, he’s flapping around as he busily does anyway. But he has got a good wingman in Steve Smith as well, again with lots of experience. So, I’m not saying it’s a team captaincy, but I think it’s a solution that Australia’s got covered.”
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However, the former great also said that the Aussies have always had an experienced captain heading into a World Cup compared to the upcoming edition as well. Notably, they won for the first time in 1987 before three-peating between 1999 to 2007 and winning again at home in 2015 as well.
Matthew Hayden also said that having specialist openers in the World Cup and also said that Mitchell Marsh can do the job as a floater in the batting lineup as well. The duo of David Warner and Travis Head have had tremendous success opening the batting in ODIs, including a record 269-run partnership at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against England last year.
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“[Travis] Head and Warner, I think, are your key openers. [Mitchell] Marsh can do a job. But in all conditions, when you look at the role that Marsh is going to play as an allrounder, I think a specialist opening in a World Cup is important. But if you’re an Australian coach, you’d have no question going, ‘We want Marsh to come up and open. And his role can float in and around the order on any given day if they need to have quick runs inside the powerplay, for example, rather than, well, you talk about Travis; he’s still got a strike rate of 96. So it’s still an enormous strike rate. But Marsh can be someone that can have an impact at the top if on any given day they need to have a bigger powerplay than any other given opportunity,” Matthew Hayden concluded.
