'I'm going nowhere', Steve Smith dampens down retirement talk
"We've got a few good tours coming up. I'm excited and I'm still trying to get better," says batsman
January 06, 2023
SYDNEY: Australia batsman Steve Smith dampened down talk of his retirement on Friday after suggesting it was by no means certain that he would be still playing test cricket next season.
The 33-year-old former captain scored his 30th Test hundred on the second day of the third Test against South Africa on Thursday, moving above Donald Bradman in the list of Australian century-makers.
Admitting his comments in a news conference after the day's play had been deliberately "cryptic", Smith said he had no immediate plans to hang up his bat.
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm comfortable with where everything's at," Smith told Fox Sports before the start of the third day of the final Test.
"We've got a few good tours coming up. I'm excited and I'm still trying to get better.
"So, whilst I have that hunger and eagerness to try and improve, and particularly helping some of the younger batters coming through, while I'm doing all that, I'm enjoying myself and I have no plans for retirement."
Warner drops clues on likely Test retirement date
Last year, Australian batter David Warner dropped clues on his likely Test retirement date, saying he will give up red-ball cricket after next year's Ashes.
"Test cricket will probably be the first one to fall off," Warner said on Triple M's Deadset Legends. "Because that's how it will pan out. The T20 World Cup is in 2024, (one-day) World Cup is next year. Potentially it could be my last 12 months in Test cricket. But I love the white-ball game; it's amazing."
With numerous players expected to retire in the next 18 months, Australia is about to undergo its first significant changing of the guard since the 2015 Ashes.
By the end of the Ashes series in 2023, Warner and Usman Khawaja will be 36, Nathan Lyon 35, and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood 32. Smith, who will also be 33, is expected to continue for a lot longer.
However, the left-handed downplayed suggestions that he should retire before the T20 World Cup 2024.
"T20 cricket — I love the game. I will be looking to get to 2024. For all those people saying I am past it and a lot of those old people are past it, look out. Be careful what you wish for," he said.
