Come May, the eyes of English cricket will be on Sussex. Steve Smith, the world’s best batter will play three games for the side in the run up to the 2023 Ashes.
The first two will be away fixtures – at Worcestershire and Leicestershire – before a clash with Glamorgan and his Aussie team-mate, Marnus Labuschagne, in Hove, starting on Thursday 18 May.
Smith will then join up with his Australian teammates for the Ashes, with the First Test starting at Edgbaston on Friday 16 June.
Sussex Cricket chief executive Rob Andrew said: “To have arguably the world’s best batter play for Sussex just before an eagerly awaited Ashes Test series is great for us and the County Championship.”
Supporters will be hoping that Smith can recapture the form on show during his last foray on to English shores. In the 2019 Ashes, he averaged 110.57, with three elegant centuries in four matches, including a commanding 211 in Manchester.
Smith was at the top of his game, a master of his craft batting to the best of his ability. And, boy, could Sussex do with that. The side’s form last season was abysmal, winning only one game to finish second-last in the County Championship Division Two.
Andrew is aware of this. He said: “Our Championship form has not been good enough for a number of years and under the new direction of head coach, Paul Farbrace, we are looking to be positive and ambitious.”
The County Championship is nothing new to Australian batters. The world number one Marnus Labuschagne has been an honorary Welshman at Glamorgan for three years now.
Fellow top-order Aussies Usman Khawaja and Travis Head have also honed their craft at English grounds. The latter played in six county games for Sussex in 2021. Yet Smith’s impending stint has drawn an abundance of criticism online.
The most common assertion is that the move only benefits Smith and the Australian team. That his time by the coast will allow the right-hander to find form and acclimatise to English conditions while not staying long enough to have any positive impact on Sussex or the County Championship competition.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan disagrees, saying: “It’s exactly what county cricket requires … having one of the greatest ever players in a Sussex dressing room can only be a positive to our game.”
Smith himself has echoed this sentiment, highlighting how he hopes to help the younger Sussex bats and “provide some guidance to them”.
Sussex do indeed have a young crop. The side is captained by 24-year-old Tom Haines and includes the likes of Ali Orr, Tom Clark and Ollie Carter, all 21, and 18-year-old Dan Ibrahim. An exciting, but inexperienced group.
The prospect of Steve Smith, giant of international cricket, teaching them a thing or two is certainly exciting.
Smith isn’t the only Aussie joining the side. Pace-bowling allrounder Nathan McAndrew becomes available this month until July to play in both the County Championship and T20 Blast.
McAndrew previously turned out for Warwickshire, taking 20 wickets in seven County Championship appearances last season.
Next Thursday (6 April), Sussex take on Durham at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove, this season’s opening fixture. Whether or not the young side can reverse last year’s lacklustre form remains to be seen.
And next month, Steve Smith will turn out for Sussex. The world’s best cricketer is coming to town and all will be watching.
