Smith to move back to middle-order for Tests against India, confirms Bailey

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Australia’s premier batter Steve Smith will be back to batting in the middle-order for the side in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India later this year, confirmed chief selector George Bailey.

Smith had moved up from number four to opening the batting in Tests after David Warner's retirement following the game against Pakistan at Sydney. But playing as an opener in four Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand, Smith didn’t have success, scoring 171 runs at an average of 28.50.

At the same time, Bailey didn’t confirm if Smith will be back to playing at number four. "Pat, Andrew, and Steve Smith had been having ongoing convers, separate to the untimely injury to Cameron (Green).”

"Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position, and Pat and Andrew have confirmed that he will be dropping back down the order for the summer. So, clearly we've got a No. 4 spot to fill and an opening spot to fill," said Bailey to reporters in Melbourne.

In terms of filling the vacant opener slot and partner alongside Usman Khawaja, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and teenager Sam Konstas will be closely watched by the Australian selectors. The trio have been named in the 17-man Australia A squad that will face India A in two four-day games at Mackay and Melbourne on October 31 and November 7 respectively.

Bailey revealed Konstas, who scored twin centuries during last week’s Sheffield Shield match for New South Wales against South Australia in Sydney, was "in the mix" for a call-up to the Test team."He's in the mix as are plenty of others. I certainly don't want to single him out. I think the consistency of Cam Bancroft and Marcus Harris over a number of years, they've both had a look at Test cricket as well. So I don't think there's any need at this stage to put undue pressure expectation on Sam.”

"He's five games into his first-class career. He's had a good start to that, and he certainly looks like he's got a well organized game that we're really excited and looking forward to seeing at the A level, and we'll just continue to watch as that progresses."Bailey signed off by saying Bancroft picking a pair during last week’s Sheffield Shield match of Western Australia against Queensland in Perth, won’t affect his chances of getting into the Test team.

"I spoke to Cam after that game, I sort of jokingly said to him, if he (wasn't) in such good nick, he might have played and missed those as well. So that might be a really good sign for the rest of the summer. There's plenty of batters that have managed to get a feather on an early Michael Neser ball."So no harm done. He's certainly got credits in the bank. His consistency over a number of years has been phenomenal, as have a number of those other players I've mentioned. A one-off game like that wasn't going to have any impact."