MITCHELL JOHNSON: Steve Smith’s opening role still haunts Australia’s Test team

It’s been nearly two years since Australia decided to hand Steve Smith the opening spot in Test cricket — a move that raised eyebrows then, and still says plenty about where we’re at today.

When that decision was made, Cameron Bancroft was piling on the runs and leading the Sheffield Shield charts.

He looked every bit like a player who had done the hard yards, and he wasn’t the only one at the time putting their hand up.

Yet for some reason, the selectors went in another direction.

Smith had never opened in first-class cricket. Never. But he was given the job ahead of those who had earned it against the West Indies in January 2024.

The justification was balance — getting Cameron Green back into the side, freeing up the middle order, and trusting that a great player could just adapt.

And to be fair, Smith is a great player. But the bigger question is: why are we still in this same conversation?

Fast-forward to now, and Australia still doesn’t have a settled opening partner for Usman Khawaja.

Khawaja himself is in the twilight of his career, but the end of that road is coming sooner rather than later.

Behind him, there’s a revolving door of possibilities, and now talk of Marnus Labuschagne being promoted to also bat in position he also normally does not. He won’t even promote himself to the role for Queensland as he scores ton after ton at first drop for the Bulls.

Labuschagne’s recent purple patch has given the selectors something to think about, and coach Andrew McDonald’s comments haven’t exactly cleared the air.

He said recently that it’s not just about scoring runs, but how you go about it. It’s an interesting line I agree with, but if history tells us anything, scoring runs doesn’t guarantee selection anyway.

Bancroft found that out the hard way. To me, that’s the heart of Australia’s current issue: the system seems to pick on theory and flexibility rather than form.

Instead of finding a specialist opener and backing him for a stretch of time, we’ve moved pieces around to fit others in.

It’s short-term thinking for a long-term role. Opening in Test cricket isn’t just about surviving the first 10 overs — it’s about setting the tone, wearing down new balls, and giving your side structure. You can’t fake experience at the top. And that uncertainty up top now links directly to the team’s broader stability.

Green’s recent side strain injury is another worry. He’s got time to get right before the summer, but with Pat Cummins already under careful management after his back flare ups, it’s starting to feel like we’re one more setback away from the pressure really building on the team. From the outside, that pressure is obvious.

On the inside, I’m sure players and coaches will say they’re staying calm — but you can feel it creeping in. For the individual players, all you can do is be ready. That’s the game. But as a system, you want clarity — you want players knowing what their role is going into a home Test summer, not wondering if the selectors will shift someone again just to make it all fit.

There’s a parallel between the opening debate and how we talk about young players coming through.

Take Sam Konstas, for example. I’ve seen the “highlight” and the hype around his ramp shot off Scott Boland in the Shield.

Let’s be honest — it was one shot. It got plenty of traction online, and people started throwing around the word “X-factor”. But let’s look at it tactically.

Put yourself in Boland’s head for a second. Konstas has just played a high-risk, premeditated ramp — maybe it comes off, maybe it doesn’t.

But from a bowler’s point of view, that’s a win. You’ve forced a player into something desperate or flashy to find a scoring option. And don’t forget, Boland had already set him up beautifully for a duck in the first innings in just four balls.

That’s a lesson right there. And it’s not the first time Boland has taken his wicket and already has it over on him four times.

In red-ball cricket, you can get away with a few ramp shots here and there, but you won’t build a career on them.

You build it on temperament, patience, and decision-making. I’m not having a go at Konstas — he’s got genuine talent and a bright future. But he’s not ready for an Ashes Test summer. And that’s okay. What worries me is how quickly we hype someone up, how we push them before they’ve even built the foundation.

Let him make mistakes in Shield cricket. Let him learn away from the spotlight. That’s how you build players who can last, not just trend for a day.

Australia’s strength used to be about depth and readiness — the next man up had already earned it, not had it handed to him. Now it feels like we’re searching for the perfect combination on paper, rather than rewarding the ones who’ve done it on the park.

I’ve got no issue with experimentation — the game evolves, and flexibility matters. But when you’ve got blokes scoring runs consistently in domestic cricket, and you overlook them for theories that don’t hold up long term, you risk sending the wrong message.

Players start to wonder what else they must do.

For me, the solution is simple. Back the openers who’ve done the work. Stop moving your best middle-order players around like puzzle pieces. Build from the top. Pick guys who are hungry and battle-hardened, not the flavour of the week.

Because until we do that, we’ll keep having this same conversation — about balance, about experimentation, about who might fit — when really, we just need someone to walk out there, take the shine off, and do the hard yards.

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