Will Steve Smith open for Australia in WTC final? Pat Cummins confirms batting position against South Africa

The T20 fever is over for now as the Indian Premier League 2025 season came to a conclusion with Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifting their first-ever title in 18 years.

The focus now shifts to Test cricket, and the main event ahead of the English summer will be the final of the much-anticipated World Test Championship for the 2023-2025 cycle, where the defending champions, Australia, will face South Africa at Lord's in London.

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The match will be played from June 11 to 15, and how the teams would line up would be interesting.

Australia, in particular, have a task in hand to pick their second opener that they have been looking for since David Warner's retirement.

After the New South Wales opener retired in January 2024, the Aussies have tried playing their talisman, Steve Smith, at the top, who, interestingly, has been ruled out to open in the final. See what Pat Cummins had to say about the situation.

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Will Steve Smith open for Australia in the WTC final?

Speaking to Sam Perry and Ian Higgins of The Grade Cricketer, the famous cricket podcast based in Australia, Test captain Cummins spoke about the possibility of Smith opening the batting after the well-established number 4 batter played four Test matches at the top over the past 12 months as a makeshift opener.

"I can confirm that Smudge will be batting at four. Everyone else, I’m not willing to, but I can confirm Steve Smith will be number four," said the Aussie skipper.

Cummins ruled out the possibility that Smith batting at the top, which meant Sam Konstas and Travis Head are the options who could open in the final.

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Nathan McSweeny, who made his debut against India in the home summer as an opener, is interestingly not picked in the squad for the final, which also makes Marnus Labuschagne a potential opening option.

What is Steve Smith's record as an opener vs number 4?

Smith has spent the majority of his career at his preferred number 4 position, where he has scored over 6,500 runs, while as a makeshift opener, apart from the highest of 91, he did not make any substantial scores in the short amount of time spent at the top.