Steve Smith douses SCG Test retirement talk as Australia name side for fifth game against England
From then on the Test tour is packed with at least 20 matches to be played until the return tour of the England Ashes in winter 2027.
Australia’s return to South Africa in September looms as a pivotal campaign for Smith, given it is the first tour there since Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were suspended for the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
A summer full of Tests against New Zealand followed by a five-Test tour of India in February 2027, with the 150th anniversary Test against England and the Ashes presented as a legacy-defining era for this generation of Australians.
The World Test Championship final will also take place before the 2027 Ashes, with Australia leading the standings after a surprise defeat by South Africa that decided the outcome of the last cycle.
“I’m enjoying my cricket, it’s fun, I feel like we’ve got a really good team,” Smith said.
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“The team we’ve had over the last three or four years has been to two World Test Championship finals, different people have stood up at different times, it’s never been one or two people doing the job, it’s been shared.
“It made us a really good team, so it was nice to be a part of it and now as an older player, hopefully I can help some of the players and help teach them the game of Test cricket. That’s my role now.”
Smith said on Saturday morning that while no final decision had yet been made on Australia’s XI for the fifth Test, the team hierarchy wanted to take another look at the SCG squad.
Spinner Todd Murphy’s chances of playing in the long-awaited home test will depend on how the deck is presented; Green’s summer season will also see him come under pressure from versatile player Beau Webster.
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