Steve Smith douses SCG Test retirement talk as Australia name side for fifth game against England

From then though, the Test tour is packed with a minimum of 20 matches to be played until the return UK Ashes tour in the winter of 2027.

Australia’s return to South Africa in September looms as a pivotal campaign for Smith given it is the first tour there since Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft served suspensions for the ball-tampering scandal of 2018.

A home summer of Tests against New Zealand, followed by a bumper five-Test tour of India in February, 2027, the 150th anniversary Test against England and the Ashes present as a legacy-defining period for this Australian generation.

The World Test Championship final will also fall before the 2027 Ashes, with Australia leading the standings after a surprise upset from South Africa in the decider of the last cycle.

“I’m just enjoying my cricket, it’s fun, I feel we’ve got a really good team,” Smith said.

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“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.

“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.”

Smith said on Saturday morning that a final decision is yet to be made on Australia’s XI for the fifth Test, with team hierarchy wanting another look at the SCG wicket.

Spinner Todd Murphy’s chances of playing a long-awaited home Test will hinge on how the deck presents, with Green’s summer also putting his spot under pressure from fellow all-rounder Beau Webster.

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