ROBIN Smith offered yesterday to become England's regular Test match
opener. He told England's selectors that he is quite happy to assume the
''Graham Gooch role'' in all international cricket.
The Hampshire player has been asked to open in the remaining one-day
internationals against India, with captain Gooch dropping down the
order. And, if Gooch continues that policy in this summer's Ashes
series, or leaves Test cricket entirely, Smith is keen to fill the gap.
Smith, who made 29 after having opened at Bangalore last Friday, said:
''Hopefully, Graham still will be around this summer and, if I am
selected, I will be just as happy in the middle order as usual. But I
see opening as an option for me in the future, and certainly on next
winter's tour of the West Indies.
''I enjoy taking on fast bowling, and opening does appeal to me in
that you get straight out there. I get nervous before I bat, but when I
am out in the middle, those nerves soon disappear. In the third one-day
international in Bangalore, I was keen to take the first ball for that
reason.''
He added: ''I do not particularly like the waiting in the dressing
room, not knowing whether it is going to be five minutes or 55 minutes
before I go out and bat. In some ways batting at four or five is the
ideal position because you go in when the shine is off the ball a bit.''
Smith has opened in one-day cricket for Hampshire, especially on
Sundays, and he also does not rule out a switch to opening in
championship cricket, too -- especially if his England career, after 39
Tests, takes him in that direction.
The 29-year-old has shown great fighting spirit and adaptability on
this tour after having struggled painfully and almost embarrassingly at
times against spinners earlier in the tour.
He was in danger of being dropped after a double failure in the first
Test at Calcutta but, asked to open in the second Test at Madras, he
responded with 56 in the second innings there and then 62 second time
around in the Bombay Test.
In the last Test he especially played the Indian spinners with
assurance -- itself an achievement for a man who admits he prefers the
more straightforward willow-on-leather battle with pacemen.
In Smith, Graeme Hick, and Michael Atherton England are aware they
have the nucleus of their batting line-up for the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, England, 2-1 up in the six-match, one-day series after
their 48-run victory at Bangalore, have named an unchanged 12 for
today's match in Jamshedpur -- the industrial steel town of north-east
India. England team from:
R Smith, A Stewart, wicketkeeper, G Hick, M Gatting, N Fairbrother, G
Gooch, captain, C Lewis, D Reeve, P DeFreitas, P Jarvis, D Malcolm, J
Emburey.
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