After a pair of relatively subdued Ashes series in 2021-22 and 2023, Smith has lately returned to something like his best, making sublime centuries against India and Sri Lanka before having his winter somewhat scuppered by a dislocated finger.
References to Newlands have come up sporadically over the years, most recently when a frustrated Virat Kohli made sandpaper gestures towards the SCG crowd during the final game of the Border-Gavaskar series in January.
Steve Smith reacts after getting out to Josh Tongue.Credit: Getty Images
Tongue eventually got his man, caught behind for 26, and Smith is yet to make a significant impact on the Hundred – he still harbours dreams of a Twenty20 recall to the Australian side in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It gives me some opportunities to be able to play in some different tournaments and keep trying to put my best foot forward to get back into the T20 team for Australia,” Smith said before the tournament.
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“My goal now is to try and play in the Olympics. That’s motivating me, and I want to try and keep getting better at the shorter format.”
“Every time I go back and play [Twenty20], I always send [coach Andrew McDonald] a text saying, ‘Did you see that?’ Hopefully, I can send him quite a few texts throughout this month of August.
“It’d be nice to smash a few around the park and send off a text and ask him whether he saw it.”
Plenty of other Australians are very much enjoying themselves, however, even as the cream of the national Twenty20 side are currently playing a series against South Africa, while the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are in the gym, preparing for summer.
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London Spirit’s David Warner is leading the run-making charts with 150 runs after three games, while Tasmanian speedster Riley Meredith is the second-best wicket-taker with seven victims.
He took 4-9 overnight to ensure Welsh Fire defeated the Oval Invincibles in the Cardiff game, helped by three wickets for another Australian, Chris Green.
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