Steven Smith stresses the need to communicate more with the public

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Australia Steven Smith
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Australia’s captain Steven Smith (L) gestures while talking with coach Darren Lehmann. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images)

Steven Smith’s decision to leave the Australian team mid-way during the ODI series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka citing workload as the reason was not well-received by the pundits of the game. They criticized him and the Cricket Australia heavily for taking this decision.

Smith remained silent all the while during at that time and let things cool down before he came out to justify the move. The Aussie skipper believes that the timing of the announcement did not help. On top of the decision being revealed just moments after a loss and just a day before his departure, it had always been CA’s plan to send him home two games into the five-match one-day series.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Smith said of the heat he copped for leaving Sri Lanka early. “We knew a fair way out that I was going to be leaving after the second one-day game and I guess the fact that we only sort of brought it out the day before probably shocked a few people.

“For me it was just about getting the messaging across and I think we could have got the messaging across a little bit better.”

It’s a lesson he says both he and CA have taken to heart, stressing the need to communicate these decisions with the public more effectively, particularly when it comes to rests for himself and vice-captain David Warner.

“It’s an important lesson too, because CA has to manage its players workloads meticulously nowadays with the cricket calendar as packed as it has ever been. The tour of Sri Lanka only ended on the 9th of September and 11 days later the Australians are boarding flights to South Africa for six one-dayers — five against the hosts, one against Ireland — with Joe Mennie, Dan Worrall and Chris Tremain the only members of the 14-man squad who weren’t involved in the tour of Sri Lanka.”

The Australians have a packed schedule ahead of them. This leaves Cricket Australia with a critical responsibility of ensuring that their top most players remain perfectly fit and fine and do not go down due to injuries.

After playing the ODI series against South Africa, Australia  will prepare to face them again in their own backyard in November in a three Tests before the three-match one-day Chappell-Hadlee series at home against New Zealand in December.

That’s followed by three Tests and five one-dayers against Pakistan across December-January and then they will travel to New Zealand for another three-match Chappell-Hadlee series from late January to early February. They then fly back for three Twenty20 against Sri Lanka before jetting off to India for a four-Test series slated for February-March.

“Particularly (for) the fast bowlers, it’s very difficult for them to sustain it for long periods of time and go full tilt, which we want those guys doing.

“But having said that, I guess for this series it gives a couple of guys an opportunity. We get a chance to look at Tremain, Mennie and Worrall who are in the squad. So hopefully they’ll take that opportunity with both hands.”

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