Senior Australia batter Steve Smith has raised doubts over his participation in next year’s Ashes tour of England, revealing he is managing his Test career on a series-by-series basis while targeting to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Smith, 37, is currently featuring for the Amsterdam Flames in the European T20 Premier League (ETPL). The right-handed batter has played 125 Tests and scored 37 centuries and is currently the second-ranked men’s Test batter behind England’s Harry Brook.
One of the reasons why I wanted to play with Amsterdam here was just to continue playing as much T20 cricket as I can,” Smith told The Telegraph on Monday. “Right now probably it’s just the Olympics (as a goal) to try to be a part of that. “I’ve achieved a lot in the game. 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. “Oh, for me, it’s just another series. They’re a good side at the moment – obviously beat us in the World Test Championship final. They have a really good pace attack as well, so should be a cracker of a series.”
It’s been a great ride for the last 15 years or thereabouts. Australia will travel to South Africa for a three-game Test series in October, which is Smith’s first Test trip to the country since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that led to his 12-month ban from international cricket.
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.
