Matthew Hayden ‘crazy’ to switch Steven Smith’s batting position to opener.

“But, the role of an opening batsman compared to a middle-order batsman is very different. And it didn’t take long to find out that when you go into challenging situations, as they faced in the first series outside of Australia, New Zealand, opening the batting is very difficult.”

“Me, personally, as I said at the time, I wrote down that I don’t like to change,” added Hayden. “I think it’s crazy to think that you have the best striker in the world in a certain position. Then you switch to a completely different position. For a couple of reasons, I think that’s crazy. First of all, why? Such a shot. In that position, such a player.

“And it’s also not a nod to the first-class set-up, which is so common in Australian culture, it’s had great results in a key role, be it any role – wicket-keeping, batting, spinners, fast bowlers, opening batsmen [batting positions of] One, two and three are sectors that need to be protected in my opinion. It’s getting ready to play.”

“Yeah, right. Right,” Hayden said. “For the first time, it doesn’t feel secure. David Warner has given a great service to Australian cricket. He’s given a very competitive, incredibly strong service. He’s really taken that legacy that I created in the 2000s. A new standard, over 80 strike rates [70] and it gave a great impetus to the high order, otherwise conservative, very good, but conservative punch line. So I think he’s very lost in how he takes his place.

“Obviously they’ve gone the way of Steven Smith, so far, if they’re going to continue that strategy, time will tell. And we’ve got guys like them. [Cameron] Bancroft always on the move, Matt Renshaw is in the pipeline.

“Bancroft, if you look at his way in England, he’s been very good, but that’s domestic cricket. It’s not Border-Gavaskar type cricket so there’s a few things to prove in that engine room in Australian cricket, he’s been challenged at the moment by David’s absence. “

Smith himself recently said he had “no idea” about his batting in the India Tests, and that a decision would be made after Australia’s white-ball tour of the UK starting on September 4, where they will play a T20I series against Scotland beforehand. three T20Is and five ODIs against England. “I’m happy anywhere and I’ll beat any team,” Smith said. Both Cummins and Bailey recently suggested that Australia could go with the top six as their last four Tests to start their Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign.