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Steve Smith announces retirement from ODI cricket

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Australia great announces retirement from ODI cricket

Following their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 exit, Australia skipper Steve Smith has called it quits from the 50-over format.

In the aftermath of Australia's Champions Trophy exit, captain Steve Smith on Wednesday announced his retirement from the ODI format.

"It has been a great ride and I have loved every minute of it,” Smith said in a statement to Cricket Australia.

“There have been so many amazing times and wonderful memories. Winning two World Cups was a great highlight along with the many fantastic team-mates who shared the journey," he added.

 
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Makes sense.

Farewell Smith bhai. You were always at your best in ICC tournaments.
 
I believe he was the successor to Michael Clarke.

Steve Waugh > Ricky Ponting > Michael Clarke > Steven Smith.

Sandpapergate meant he was dethroned and Pat Cummins eventually took over.
I meant the next champion Aussie batsman after Ponting.
 
So smith will retire after ashes and t20 wc.none the less he had a good odi career as a double wc winner.
 
I meant the next champion Aussie batsman after Ponting.
In odi no, Australia is still looking. He defo underachieved in odi.

In tests, he's superior to Ponting in every way. Easily the greatest test player of all time post Bradman with only Sachin being a realistic contender and a debatable rival.

Otherwise he's > everyone else in test cricket history excluding the ww2 goats.
 
Anyways, champion cricketer and excellent career. Good decision though. Better to focus in the true form of the game rather than waste his time further in a format where he has already won 2 WC's with his team.
 
Wasn't he initially brought in as specialist spinner or spinning-allrounder? And he looked like Chris Martin while batting when I saw him first time, but how quickly he learned and turned around things, truly champion player.
 
Wonderful ODI batter at his peak.

Australia's ODI team looks extremely vulnerable now. Lineup full of high risk hacks.

Big 3 pace trio is also almost done. Starc is definitely finished
 
I think his hundred in 2015 semi-final still hurts you
Tbf he underachieved in odi surprisingly as I was sure he would achieve 30+ odi centuries.

However he did bash India in odi the most. His best innings for me isn't wc 2015 but 2021 against India.

That 62 ball 100 against an attack featuring bumrah was something else. Total domination and annihilation.
 
Tbf he underachieved in odi surprisingly as I was sure he would achieve 30+ odi centuries.

However he did bash India in odi the most. His best innings for me isn't wc 2015 but 2021 against India.

That 62 ball 100 against an attack featuring bumrah was something else. Total domination and annihilation.
He was never too serious about white ball cricket.
You could see he had a completely different demeanor in test matches.
 
He was never too serious about white ball cricket.
You could see he had a completely different demeanor in test matches.
He was serious, however it's not a format that suits him.

In tests he has 3 advantages.

A) He has insane temprament and you can't really frustrate him. Constantly bowling lines such as the 3rd offstump line to kohli, doesn't really work on smith, he knows how to leave it alone. He makes it clear that you play according to his rules.

B) Dude is a spin god, next to impossible to get him out on spin in tests. The greatest player of spin in tests I've ever seen so he can milk them all day. His dry patch in tests was always due to pace, not spin, possibly why he wanted to go back to no 4, as in opening, he just doesn't want to play 15 to 20 overs of pace right off the bat.

C) RR isn't an issue since He's always had a Warner or head with him either at opening or no 5 and a solid no 7 in haddin and Carey to accelerate. Not saying he can't accelerate, he can, but doesn't always need to. His 100 of 190 don't really bother anyone.

In odi, he tries to play an attacking brand of cricket which is Australia's motto and it doesn't work. It just isn't his game to attack pace bowling. He's done it yes but in odi he's mostly a spin basher.

In tests he's the same, Will punish spinners, and against pacers he'll milk them around.
 
He could have easily played till 2027
In tests he should. He should not call it quits in tests but in odi i think it's the right call.

These boys want to cultivate the future generation, not pull a Rizwan and misbah and play till 45.

He was useless in 2023 wc, was useless in the England odi series, useless in sri lanka odi series and despite showing some promise in ct 2025, overall his innings was just okay nothing special and threw it away at the wrong time.

It's clear the 2015-2021 odi smith is gone and even he knows this. He wanted to quit on 2023, however management continued to back him but he now knows that this is it for him.

He probably would have retired from all formats but his test resurgence will now cause him to play longer since he's back to century galore mode in test cricket.
 
In tests he should. He should not call it quits in tests but in odi i think it's the right call.

These boys want to cultivate the future generation, not pull a Rizwan and misbah and play till 45.

He was useless in 2023 wc, was useless in the England odi series, useless in sri lanka odi series and despite showing some promise in ct 2025, overall his innings was just okay nothing special and threw it away at the wrong time.

It's clear the 2015-2021 odi smith is gone and even he knows this. He wanted to quit on 2023, however management continued to back him but he now knows that this is it for him.

He probably would have retired from all formats but his test resurgence will now cause him to play longer since he's back to century galore mode in test cricket.
Hopefully Rizwan and Babar find inspiration from this retirement, and retire from all 3 formats!
 
Hopefully Rizwan and Babar find inspiration from this retirement, and retire from all 3 formats!
Steve Smith is the guy Babar/rizwan/misbah fans wish that they were.

Misbah is praised as if he's the Steve smith of test cricket. Babar is hyped by van goh as if he'll have a test resurgence and prove the motto form is temporary class is permanent just like Steve smith did, and rizwan is praised as if he's goat no 4 with a weird technique and a humble boy just like smith.

He's started to recover form in pdi cricket as well, but he knows its best to invest in someone new rather then playing him for 2 more years.

Test cricket is different since the team clearly needs him for the Ashes and wtc and he'll perform his duties as the ton machine.
 
Smith legacy known as a Cheater and Architect of sandpaper gates .

:kp
 
I still remember the Steve Smith thread from a legendary poster @Saqs. I don't think he has posted in years but I hope somewhere he is reminiscing on his early assessment of Smith. An assessment we all shared at the time.
 
World class player, won two ODI world cup. Congrats on the fantastic ODI career. Good timing to retire, in the mid 30s next cwc27 two years away, Nothing else left to achieve in ODI. Now its the right time to make way for someone else.

Something the desi nation players can learn from. Retire out of your own will at the right age, making way for newer players and stop playing on forever selfishly.
 
Good call. He did his very best as a captain. Played crucial knocks in ICC events. They can start rebuilding the unit. What will take Labu to do the same lol That guy cannot be in their XI.
 
Kohli, Rohit
In ODIs:

Virat Kohli boasts an average of 58.11 with a strike rate of 93.36.

Rohit Sharma holds an average of 48.65 with a strike rate of 92.82.

Steve Smith, on the other hand, has an average of 43.28 with a strike rate of 86.97.


I fail to understand how anyone can label Virat and Rohit as "stat padders." In my view, a true stat padder is someone who selfishly plays slow, even on flat pitches, just to maintain their average. It’s amusing how some fans are so insecure and jealous that they feel the need to bring up Indian cricketers as "stat padders" even in discussions about Steve Smith’s retirement.
 
Virat be like: ab mujhe bhi hona padega :inti

images
 
In ODIs:

Virat Kohli boasts an average of 58.11 with a strike rate of 93.36.

Rohit Sharma holds an average of 48.65 with a strike rate of 92.82.

Steve Smith, on the other hand, has an average of 43.28 with a strike rate of 86.97.


I fail to understand how anyone can label Virat and Rohit as "stat padders." In my view, a true stat padder is someone who selfishly plays slow, even on flat pitches, just to maintain their average. It’s amusing how some fans are so insecure and jealous that they feel the need to bring up Indian cricketers as "stat padders" even in discussions about Steve Smith’s retirement.

Both in decline. Certainly finished at test , both were never great test players but better to go when you're more nearer your best .

LOI have flat decks helping their longevity.

Good luck to Smith, surpassed his initial potential .

Aus players move on before damaging the team , one of the reasons why Australia is the greater cricketing nation in history
 
Fab 4's are slowly calling it a quit. Came as a bowler, ending his career as one of the best batsmen to play the game. Happy retirement
 
Both in decline. Certainly finished at test , both were never great test players but better to go when you're more nearer your best .

LOI have flat decks helping their longevity.

Good luck to Smith, surpassed his initial potential .

Aus players move on before damaging the team , one of the reasons why Australia is the greater cricketing nation in history
I don’t get it. This post was originally about Steve Smith’s ODI retirement, yet Indian cricketers were unnecessarily labeled as stat padders. And now, instead of staying on topic, you’re randomly bringing up Virat and Rohit’s Test stats.

Brother, the discussion is about their ODI performances, which an insecure fan tried to dismiss as stat padding. My response was simply to compare the ODI stats of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Steve Smith to highlight the actual reality.

If this were a discussion about Test cricket, I wouldn’t have even bothered comparing, because for me, Steve Smith is the modern-day Bradman—there’s no debate about that.

I hope you get my point now and stop making unnecessary "apples to oranges" comparisons.
 
Unfair to label Kohli statpadder here. He has many crunch ODI knocks and just yesterday scored a beautiful match winning knocks in an ICC semi final.
 
In odi no, Australia is still looking. He defo underachieved in odi.

In tests, he's superior to Ponting in every way. Easily the greatest test player of all time post Bradman with only Sachin being a realistic contender and a debatable rival.

Otherwise he's > everyone else in test cricket history excluding the ww2 goats.
Smith is a really good test batter but disagree he is better than Ponting. Have seen so many Ponting innings live and Smiths as well- Ponting is rated higher imo. He used to totally dominate the opposition and bury the game. Ponting intimidated teams way more than Smith
Smith is an amazing batter- unfair to him that he os compared to Ponting.

Ans regarding greatest test batsman after Bradman- you have to separate it into pre helmet and post helmet era. Sir Vivian Richards will be the only contender. None of the modern post helmet batsmen will have these numbers if they played without a helmet - including tendulkar Ponting smith root etc or whoever. Thats why Richards is a great...
 
Smith is a great player but in LOIs he was just a good batter. Good on him to call it quits keeping in mind the 2027 WC. I am thinking we might see more retirements if India win the CT 2025. Rohit for sure and may be Virat as well. Jadeja is the other one who may call it quits.
 
Smith is a really good test batter but disagree he is better than Ponting. Have seen so many Ponting innings live and Smiths as well- Ponting is rated higher imo. He used to totally dominate the opposition and bury the game. Ponting intimidated teams way more than Smith
Smith is an amazing batter- unfair to him that he os compared to Ponting.

Ans regarding greatest test batsman after Bradman- you have to separate it into pre helmet and post helmet era. Sir Vivian Richards will be the only contender. None of the modern post helmet batsmen will have these numbers if they played without a helmet - including tendulkar Ponting smith root etc or whoever. Thats why Richards is a great...
Ponting was a circus clown in India in tests. Looking at a few innings here and their doesn't mean much, in fact smith 211 in the Ashes where he single handidely won it and was batting with the tail and still butchering England is > ponting's entire test career.

In tests your class is determined by your country performance.

Steve smith and Sachin are the only 2 cricketers in history (excluding bradman) to atleast avg 40 or more in every country they've managed to play notable number of games in.

As for viv Richards, viv is a goat no contest. I meant greatest test batter from 1990 onwards. So let's say greatest test batter since viv Richards and not Bradman.

Now about this whole intimidation and domination topic. By this logic Travis head and David Warner are better test batters then smith because they intimdate the opposition more then smith does.

Travis went carnage mode on India in 2nd and 3rd test, something smith has never done in his entire career?

But this is test, not odi or t20. Steve smith is far far far more difficult to get out then ponting, Travis or Warner in test games. As a result he's far more likely to hurt you with 100 to 200 scores in test games then ponting can.
 
Unfair to label Kohli statpadder here. He has many crunch ODI knocks and just yesterday scored a beautiful match winning knocks in an ICC semi final.
Kohli for majority of his career was not a statpadder (about 90%). But during wc 2023 he showed tendencies that we didn't see before. I think long century drought reallysomewhat changed him. He just wanted to make up for it. Earlier he was in auto-pilot mode. Same with Tendulkar. Vast majority of his career he was not a statpadder. Right towards the end when 100th century took a while he went for it consciously. Most cricketers are like. Next it will be Gill. Suhbamn GIll reached 200 by hitting 3 back to back sixes. Wait and watch. After a few years he will carefully get to that milestone.
 
Kohli for majority of his career was not a statpadder (about 90%). But during wc 2023 he showed tendencies that we didn't see before. I think long century drought reallysomewhat changed him. He just wanted to make up for it. Earlier he was in auto-pilot mode. Same with Tendulkar. Vast majority of his career he was not a statpadder. Right towards the end when 100th century took a while he went for it consciously. Most cricketers are like. Next it will be Gill. Suhbamn GIll reached 200 by hitting 3 back to back sixes. Wait and watch. After a few years he will carefully get to that milestone.
I think people should stop expecting flawless behavior from cricketers. These are flawed humans, all of them, and do not live to please their fans all the time. They will win you a lot of games and give you opportunities to celebrate, but then you should give them a little leeway and don’t expect idealism and perfection. Let them remain human and with flaws. Are YOU perfect? If not, then is it not unfair to expect that from them?
 
I think people should stop expecting flawless behavior from cricketers. These are flawed humans, all of them, and do not live to please their fans all the time. They will win you a lot of games and give you opportunities to celebrate, but then you should give them a little leeway and don’t expect idealism and perfection. Let them remain human and with flaws. Are YOU perfect? If not, then is it not unfair to expect that from them?
Also guys like Gavaskar constantly talk about 100 it somehow gets tatooed on their brain. It helps mostly though. Hope bowlers do the same with 5 wickets.
 
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LOI was never his strong format but he won 2 world cups anyways. A good end to a good career at max... He should focus in red ball only and might retire from it soon.
 
LOI was never his strong format but he won 2 world cups anyways. A good end to a good career at max... He should focus in red ball only and might retire from it soon.
He underachived in this format and idkw. In 2015 he was comfortably > Kohli as an odi batsmen.

Infact his 2015 odi self is > any era kohli excluding 2016 kohli who's marginally superior.

No clue why smith fell off hard from 2016 onwards in odi.

In tests he's been the king since debut. Literally no one comes close to him
 
Farewell to a class act, his 2 WCs define his legacy in the format. Also makes me a little sad that another retirement from his main format of tests is not too far away 😕
 
Nasser Hussain talks about Steve Smith’s retirement from ODIs on a sports media outlet:

"Steve Smith retired from one-day international cricket following Australia's semi-final exit to India. Both Athers (Michael Atherton) and I think that he's currently playing some of his best cricket."

"His retirement statement, saying he wants to play T20 and Test cricket but not 50-over cricket, kind of reflects where the game is."

"He's been a fantastic player across all formats for Australia. You'd probably say Test cricket is his best format, the one that is his super strength if you want to use that term, whereas with Kohli, perhaps you'd say ODI cricket is his absolute best format."

"When you watch him bat in that game and recently, actually, he's not a man whose skills are waning. He had a little quiet period for a time, but in the last six months to a year, he's played beautifully."

"He played beautifully the other day against India, and his captaincy as well in this tournament. On that day, the way he got the most out of those resources, despite the missing players, showed his gut feel, tactical nous, and his will to try and win for Australia—something that has never been doubted, and we saw that in this tournament."
 
Ponting was a circus clown in India in tests. Looking at a few innings here and their doesn't mean much, in fact smith 211 in the Ashes where he single handidely won it and was batting with the tail and still butchering England is > ponting's entire test career.

In tests your class is determined by your country performance.

Steve smith and Sachin are the only 2 cricketers in history (excluding bradman) to atleast avg 40 or more in every country they've managed to play notable number of games in.

As for viv Richards, viv is a goat no contest. I meant greatest test batter from 1990 onwards. So let's say greatest test batter since viv Richards and not Bradman.

Now about this whole intimidation and domination topic. By this logic Travis head and David Warner are better test batters then smith because they intimdate the opposition more then smith does.

Travis went carnage mode on India in 2nd and 3rd test, something smith has never done in his entire career?

But this is test, not odi or t20. Steve smith is far far far more difficult to get out then ponting, Travis or Warner in test games. As a result he's far more likely to hurt you with 100 to 200 scores in test games then ponting can.
I dont like comparisons across eras but IMO Ponting anyday over Smith. The quality of bowling was higher too with fast bowlers. Just one series flop in Ind is not enough. Warne is a great spinner but ordinary in Ind. Murali was dominated by Lara like anything. We will just agree to disagree here.
 
I dont like comparisons across eras but IMO Ponting anyday over Smith. The quality of bowling was higher too with fast bowlers. Just one series flop in Ind is not enough. Warne is a great spinner but ordinary in Ind. Murali was dominated by Lara like anything. We will just agree to disagree here.
Whatever argument or whatever the case, it doesn't change the fact that he played 14 test games in India and was a clown their. Secondly his form slump post 2006 doesn't help his case either.

He just like kohli was once hailed as > Sachin in test cricket but after a form slump they faded away.

If you look at overall records, Ponting is simply a Joe root level test batter. His peak is higher in the same way kohli's peak is > root but none of that matters.

End of career records show that ponting is = to current root. Aka 2 batters who are goat in every conditon except for one country. For root it's aus where he avg 25, and for ponting its India where he avg 26.

Both have a similar run tally and century tally. Both ironically have a similar crappie conversion rate as pkat 2006, Ponting's conversion rate tanked.

Meanwhile smith will overall have a superior record. He was in danger of falling below due to a form slump but he came back with 4 cemturies in 5 test games so not an issue now.

The only contention is peak ponting vs peak smith but peak smith still beats peak ponting in every metric that i mentioned.

At the end of the day, you have a batter who

A) has the greatest conversion rate in the history of test cricket post bradman.

B) Greatest year by year performance at peak, only batter to reach close to Bradman at peak.

C) Best all country format performances. He and Sachin are the only 2 test cricketers to avg 40+ in every country they've played a notable number of test games in

Vs a batter who

A) Is solid in every conditon except one

B) a decent conversion rate, nothing special post his 2006 purple patch

C) decent year by year performances

D) A record that overall mimciks someone like joe root vs smith's overall record that surpasses Sachin in every metric except for runs and century tally which is match dependant in the same way Anderson has more wickets then wasim and Bumrah despite being a lesser bowler.
 
Smith has no real legacy in ODIs of his own apart from World Cup wins. IN LOI, he is a good players but now even in the race to be an ATG.

His red ball game however is the greatest in current era. Legendary
 
Smith has no real legacy in ODIs of his own apart from World Cup wins. IN LOI, he is a good players but now even in the race to be an ATG.

His red ball game however is the greatest in current era. Legendary
No real legacy apart from world cup wins? You realise that legacy alone is > pretty much any Pakistani player in history excluding Imran Khan and Wasim Akram in 1992?

Batsmen wise, their isnt a single batter > him in terms of wc legacy? All Pakistan greats despite some of em being better batters them smith in odi such as Inzimam, Saeed were all circus clowns in tournaments.

Steve smith 2015 wc performance is > Most Sa, Pak, Indian, English and NZ players.

He's not an odi atg but to casually dismiss his odi performance as

Oh he has no real legacy apart from wc wins as if wc is a joke format is laighable
 
I wish I could see him at least once playing in my city. Won't happen now since my city hosts only ODI and T20 matches.
 
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