Australia clarify Smith's 'cover' role after group stage World Cup exit

Australia selector Tony Dodemaide clarified Steve Smith's role was only as "cover" in the squad, following widespread criticism over their first-round exit from the 2026 T20 World Cup.

For the first time since 2009, Australia failed to go past the opening round, suffering a shock loss to Zimbabwe, ranked 11th in the ICC T20I rankings, and then being outclassed by Sri Lanka.

The unexpected exit has understandably kicked off reactions back home, with Dodemaide himself saying that the failure will be "fully analysed" after a "really disappointing" campaign.

Part of the noise has been around Smith's role in the squad: not long after he was officially added, Australia crashed out of the competition. Their final fixture against Oman is his only chance to potentially feature in the edition.

Dodemaide, though, made it clear that Smith's role from the start was to act as cover, and not more. "We see him primarily as at the top and that's where he's come into the squad as cover for that area," he said.

Smith was first called in as cover for Mitchell Marsh, who missed the first two matches due to a groin injury. He came back to the third, by which time Smith had been added as a replacement for the injured Josh Hazlewood.

"He was only really available for game three," said Dodemaide, "which was the game that we had our best performed pairing, which is (Mitchell) Marsh and (Travis) Head, who did extremely well.

"If we got more moving parts and we had to think of things differently, then that's a different story, but certainly now Steve still retains his place as cover for that opening position."

Against Sri Lanka, the pair hit rapid fifties, putting together 104 in 8.2 overs, but the rest of the lineup couldn't capitalise on it, with the team finishing on 181.

Currently, there is no Australian among the top 30 run-getters in the tournament, with Matt Renshaw, their top-scorer, dropped to make space for Marsh in the Sri Lanka fixture. It's added to their already weakened pace attack, reeling from the absence of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and the retired Mitchell Starc.

Among the many prominent voices criticising the management was Mark Waugh, who called out the Smith non-selection in an interview with SENQ Breakfast, labeling it as an "insult" to the veteran batter.

"I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get go with selection issues and injuries." Waugh said. "To me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages.

"I just think they've got the selections completely wrong and to have your best player by 100 yards sitting on the sidelines in Steve Smith, I think it's an insult to Steve Smith, to be honest."

The case for Smith's inclusion became a serious one following a prolific BBL 2025/26 season, where he hit 299 runs at an average of 59.80 and a strike-rate of 167.97, including a century and two fifties.

Separately, the decision to drop Matt Renshaw and retain Cam Green for the Sri Lanka game left Matthew Hayden unimpressed. "Green has just looked awful with the bat," Hayden told BBC Test Match Special. "He looks woody, he looks tinny, he looks like he's just a man with no confidence, and I'd be very surprised if that's not exactly the case.

"Matt Renshaw has come with no baggage to this tournament. He actually had a really good series back home in Australia in the ODIs. He's been a man that's been very ill-treated - there's no doubt he should be in the Test team too."

His long-time teammate Glenn McGrath also questioned all-rounder Green's selection over Smith's batting.

"If he's not bowling, then what the selectors are saying is that he's a better player than Steve Smith. If he's not bowling, I just can't see how he justifies a spot in that side," McGrath said to the Sunday Morning Herald.

Dodemaide insisted a review will be done once they return home. "It's really disappointing the way the tournament has rolled out," he admitted.

"But we will need some time, and take some time, once we finish our last commitment - it's important that we finish strongly on Friday against Oman - then we'll get back and analyse it fully."