“I want to keep playing” - Steve Smith shuts down retirement talks

On Saturday, January 3, Australian stand-in Test captain Steve Smith confirmed that he wants to continue playing, shutting down retirement talks ahead of the SCG Test, which is scheduled to start on Sunday, January 4.

Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of the fifth and final Ashes 2025-26 Test, Smith revealed that it wouldn’t be ideal for him to step away at this moment, as the veteran batter Usman Khawaja is set to move out of the squad after the SCG Test.

"With Usman dropping off now he’s one of our experienced players, so it probably wouldn’t be ideal if he and I went out this week,” Smith said in the pre-match press conference.

"I want to keep playing, so don’t read into that too much. I’m still playing, I’m enjoying it, so we’ll wait and see," he added.

Interestingly, Australia will play its next Test after the SCG game in the second half of this year. They are scheduled to tour South Africa later this year for the first time since the Sandpaper Gate controversy in 2018.

Later, they will host New Zealand before touring India for a five-match Test series. Subsequently, they will also take on England away from home in a return Ashes campaign. 

"I’m just enjoying my cricket, it’s fun, I feel we’ve got a really good team. The team we’ve had over the past three or four years, making two World Test Championship finals, different people have stood up at different times, it’s never been one or two people getting the job done, it’s been shared across,” Smith stated.

"That’s made us a really good team, so it’s been good to be a part of and as an older player now, hopefully I can help some of the players coming through and help teach them the game of Test cricket. That’s my role now," he concluded.

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