Smith's batting spot not set as Aussies brace for England pace

Dew, toss to shape Champions Trophy batting order as Australia open account against Ashes rivals

Steve Smith could change batting positions at the Champions Trophy depending on the toss as Australia gear up for an all-out pace assault from their Ashes rivals for their tournament opener in Lahore.

England have named all three of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse, the pace trio expected to play a major role in next summer's Ashes series, in their XI for Saturday's (8pm AEDT, Prime Video) clash with Australia.

Coach Brendon McCullum also sprung a surprise by listing wicketkeeper Jamie Smith at three. Whether their opponents bat their own Smith at first drop too will hinge on several factors as Australia's stand-in captain revealed their batting blueprint for the 50-over tournament will centre on versatility.

"We'll wait and see," Smith told cricket.com.au when asked where he would bat. "It's part of our discussions around flexibility and role-specific things throughout the tournament. 

"One day I might be three, one day I might be four – we'll see. 

"It might change from batting first to second as well, depending on what we want to do and what we're chasing and what we're trying to achieve. 

"I think dew is going to be a huge part in the back end of the second innings, whether we want to load up the back end a little bit more. 

"I know there's five (fielders) out at that stage, but I think with a wet ball that kind of negates that in a way, particularly with guys that have played a lot of T20 cricket who know what they can do with five out when the ball's skidding on nicely. 

"There's different scenarios that we can go down, but we're going to be flexible and adaptable throughout."

Regular first-drop Mitch Marsh is absent for the Champions Trophy with a back injury, leaving Smith and fellow middle-order staples like Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis and Alex Carey to fill the run-scoring void.

Smith, standing in for the injured Pat Cummins for the two-and-a-half week campaign, has previously expressed a preference to bat at three. 

He admitted he was "shocked" when Travis Head's return during the 2023 World Cup pushed him down to No.4 given his formidable record there.

Smith averages 52 at three in ODIs, and 35 at four. He batted at four in the two warm-up ODIs against Sri Lanka but the relevance of their tactics in those games on slow Colombo surfaces have been downplayed by an Aussie side expecting a high-scoring tournament in Pakistan and the UAE.

That sets up a mouthwatering clash between Australia's most devastating white-ball batter, opener Head, and England's coterie of pacemen being groomed by McCullum (recently installed as England's coach in all three formats) to lead their Test attack during their five-Test trip down under later this year.

England, who have not won an ODI series since their disastrous 2023 World Cup, were dazed by Head during Australia's limited-overs tour of the UK in September. His unbeaten 154 at Trent Bridge was the highlight of that campaign, though the home side never got their first-choice attack on the park.

"We got a look at them in England last year in that in that big white-ball block, they played pretty aggressively there and nothing's really changed," Head told cricket.com.au.

"They're pretty much all-out fast bowling with Adil (Rashid, the leg-spinner) being their banker – he's high quality, and doesn't go underrated in this room – but there's so much excitement around Wood, Jofra, Carse and (Gus) Atkinson.

"We're going to have to make sure we start well against them. As an opening batter, how I can counteract that and how I play against that is a great challenge.

"Even though both teams haven't played the way we would have liked in white-ball cricket over the last couple of weeks, there's no better way to start than against them on Saturday."

Australia's depleted pace stocks have been well publicised but the absence of key allrounders Marsh, Marcus Stoinis (retired) and Cameron Green (injury) could prove equally significant. 

Coach Andrew McDonald has tinkered with long batting line-ups featuring the likes of Green, Stoinis or Aaron Hardie at No.8 in recent one-dayers. But Hardie being the only seam-bowling allrounder in the Champions Trophy squad will make that ploy difficult to turn to in Pakistan.

Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis, both of whom are seam bowlers first and lower-order hitters second, may then be leant on more heavily to make lower-order contributions with the bat.

"We've got some options for guys that can definitely bat at eight and bowl," said Smith. "Guys like Dwarshuis, Hardie, Abbott – those kind of guys who actually bat quite well and have some good power as well. So we've got options around which way we want to go."

England, incidentally, have opted for a long batting line-up for their clash with Australia with Liam Livingstone listed at seven and set to share fifth-bowling duties with Joe Root.

Australia return to Lahore for their final group match against Afghanistan following their second match against South Africa in Rawalpindi. Smith expects 300-plus totals to be par at both venues.

"The scores have been up around 300, the winning scores have been around 330 batting first," he said. "Teams batting first or second, there's not a huge discrepancy I think in (who wins). 

"From what we've seen from training, there's a bit of dew in the evening, so the back-end of the second innings could be difficult for the bowling team potentially. 

"That'll sort itself out the way in the way we want to go about things – we might have to go harder in a Powerplay at some point, or we might be able to leave a bit more for the back-end in the second innings. 

"There's different ways we go about it and we've got the personnel to do that as well."