Steve Smith is holding no prisoners when it comes to spreading rumors about him, and he was blunt in his response when queried about ex-England captain Michael Vaughan saying that he’d heard ‘whispers’ that both Steve Smith and David Warner have planned their Test retirements after the ongoing Ashes 2023 series in England.
Ahead of the start of the ongoing 5th and last Test of the series at The Oval, Vaughan had stated that he’d been told about the impending retirements of Steve Smith and David Warner.
“Quite a strong whisper was about Steve Smith that it could be his last time out for Australia at the Oval as well. Again, I’ve not seen that personally, but it’s just the whisper and the gossip,” Vaughan had said a few days ago.
I am not going anywhere yet: Steve Smith shuts down Vaughan’s retirement claim
While the left-handed opener shut down Vaughan’s claims a couple of days ago, Steve Smith did the same after play on Day 2 at The Oval, where his 71, being the highest score in Australia’s first innings, helped his side take a slender 12-run lead.
Steve Smith took center-stage in the press conference on Friday and was strict in responding to such retirement rumors.
“I’m not retiring. I have no idea (where it’s come from), because I haven’t said it to anyone. I am not going anywhere yet,” said Smith.
David Warner will turn 37 this October and has already planned his Test retirement for later this year in Sydney against Pakistan with an aim to extend his white-ball international career till next year’s T20 World Cup.
Steve Smith, on the other hand, turned 34 last month and is batting brilliantly in Test cricket, which is his favored format: since 2021, he’s averaging 50 in Test cricket and has hit 6 hundreds in this period, including one in the WTC Final 2023 against India.
“I felt pretty good. Today is the best I have batted maybe outside of the Test Championship (final). I would have liked more runs (on this tour) of course but two hundreds in six games for the winter here, I think it’s reasonable,” Smith added..
