On Friday Australia captain Steve Smith turned down the claims that he does favoritism during the selection for the highly anticipated Ashes Test series with England.
Smith is not part of Australia’s three-man selection panel, but he has been assaulted by former players who reckons that he gets too much say in Australia’s lineups. The skipper hit back strongly at a media conference in Sydney, calling claims of favoritism “absolute garbage”.
Talking to media, Smith said, “I’m not a selector, but I certainly speak to the selectors a lot and express my views. All this rubbish about me picking my mates, it’s absolute garbage. I certainly don’t agree with that.”
Smith’s involvement in the New South Wales team decision to drop veteran opener Ed Cowan from a recent game against South Australia was also questioned as young Test hopeful Daniel Hughes preferred in his place.
Blues coach Trent Johnston asserted that it was one of the toughest decisions of his coaching career to leave out the former Test opener, who was the top run-scorer in last season’s Sheffield Shield.
Cowan told Fox Sports: “I don’t agree with that selection policy, but it’s the Australian Test captain, it’s his team.”
While Smith has raged at the claims, he also emphasized he was largely unconcerned. He said, “People can say what they like. I’ll read it, but it doesn’t bother me. I’ll just get on with it.”
Speaking of the hype made around the Ashes, Stev said, “No doubt. Ashes series are always big. This is my first Ashes series as captain and it’s going to be a good challenge.”
The world’s top Test batsman, Smith has not scored a century since his 111 against India at Dharamsala in March. He has a batting average of 59.66 from 56 Tests with 20 centuries, hasn’t started the new domestic season on a good note either. But he said he hopes things are now coming together.
Smith concluded, “I haven’t felt great for a little while now. I think I’ve made some progress the last couple of days. It’ll be good to spend some time in the middle to just reaffirm that. Had a really good hit today, felt like I figured things out at the end.”
