European T20 Premier League: Senior Australia batter Steve Smith has raised doubts over his participation in next year's Ashes tour of England, revealing he is managing his Test career on a series-by-series basis while targeting to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Smith, 37, is currently featuring for the Amsterdam Flames in the European T20 Premier League (ETPL). The right-handed batter has played 125 Tests and scored 37 centuries and is currently the second-ranked men’s Test batter behind England's Harry Brook.
"I don’t even know if I’ll be there yet. I’m kind of a series-by-series proposition, as I’ve been for a while, and that’s still a fair way away for me right now. So, yeah, I’d love to win one there or to have won one there, but you wait and see if that comes to fruition.
"Right now probably it’s just the Olympics (as a goal) to try to be a part of that. One of the reasons why I wanted to play with Amsterdam here was just to continue playing as much T20 cricket as I can," Smith told The Telegraph on Monday.
While Smith has not set a firm retirement date, he acknowledged that his remaining playing time will increasingly lean toward franchise T20 cricket. "I still like to think I could play T20 cricket for a while. What’s next for me when I finish? I’m not sure, but yeah, hopefully a bit more time left playing.
“I’ve achieved a lot in the game. It’s been a great ride for the last 15 years or thereabouts. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’m still enjoying it, so I don’t have an end date, we’ll wait and see. But it’s been a good ride.”
While Smith has not set a firm retirement date, he acknowledged that his remaining playing time will increasingly lean toward franchise T20 cricket. "I still like to think I could play T20 cricket for a while. What’s next for me when I finish? I’m not sure, but yeah, hopefully a bit more time left playing.
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“Oh, for me, it’s just another series. All that happened a long time ago, and we’ve played a lot of cricket – we’ve been back to South Africa since then for one-dayers. They’re a good side at the moment – obviously beat us in the World Test Championship final. They have a really good pace attack as well, so should be a cracker of a series.”