Steve Smith ‘shell-shocked’ by retirement rumours

Steve Smith is only 34, but that didn’t stop the rumour-mongers from discussing the former Australian skipper’s retirement from the game's longest format. Ahead of the fifth Test at The Oval, several rumours floated that Smith and Warner could play their last Ashes, with the Oval Test being their last. 

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan joined in the rumours, stating that there are whispers of Smith and Warner retiring from Tests after this Ashes. 

“Again I’m not too sure where they’ve got that. And quite a strong whisper was about Steve Smith that it could be his last time out for Australia at the Oval as well. Again, I’ve not seen that personally, but it’s just the whisper and the gossip,” said Vaughan. 

But Smith brushed it off and laughed at the early retirement suggestions after his near-flawless knock of 71 changed the complexion of the encounter. 

"I'm not retiring," Smith said. "I have no idea (where it's come from), because I haven't said it to anyone. I am not going anywhere yet."

Smith hasn’t had the best of Ashes, with just a century at Lord’s in the second Test, barring which he has looked far away from the vintage Smith. The 34-year-old admitted that this is the best he has batted since the hundred he scored in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India. 

"I felt pretty good," Smith said of his day two performance. "Today is the best I have batted maybe outside of the Test Championship (final).

"I would have liked more runs (on this tour) of course but two hundreds in six games for the winter here, I think it's reasonable."

Anderson feels Mo is a big miss

However, retirement talks didn’t stop there, with James Anderson being questioned after the day’s play. Anderson has had a below-average Ashes tour and, for the first time in his career, has averaged 74.80 in home conditions in a five-match Test series. Anderson was swift in denying that there are no plans to hang his boots up. 

"I'd like to [make my own decision], yeah," Anderson told Sky Sports. "But I've tried not to listen to the talk, because, for me, that question has been there for the last six years, and even longer than that.

"As soon as you get into your 30s as a bowler, it's 'how long have you got left?' And for the last three, four years, I feel like I've bowled as well as I ever have. I feel like I've been bowling with so much control. My body's in a good place. My skills are as good as they ever have been.

Anderson also admitted that he is ‘absolutely fine’ if the team drops him on the basis of his performance in the series and added that he wouldn’t want to call it a day yet. 

"The selection side of it is a completely different issue," he added. "If Stokesy and Baz [Brendon McCullum] say you've not got the wickets we would have liked, I'm absolutely fine with that. But in terms of retirement, I have no interest in going anytime soon. I just I feel like I've got a lot more to give."

With the pitch drying, spinners could really come into play, and if it comes down to that, it will be a shoot-out between Todd Murphy and Joe Root to decide the outcome of the Test. Murphy was at his impressive best in the first dig when he picked up two crucial wickets, and Root, too, picked up the solitary wicket of Alex Carey. 

"The big miss for us is Mo," he said. "He'd be a massive part of our fourth innings if we could get him out there, because it is dry, we've seen a couple of puffs of dust today from the seamers, so I think it will spin as the game goes on.”