Last update on: Thu Mar 6, 2025 08:00 AM
“I considered maybe giving up ODI cricket after this summer and try and get a bit more Test cricket in over the next 12 months. But a moment came and just gave complete clarity in my mind, and I just knew the time was right,” said Adam Gilchrist after the Adelaide Test against India in 2008, explaining how he had decided to retire from international cricket while playing the match.
The moment of clarity Gilchrist was talking about came on Day 1, when India’s VVS Laxman gave a regulation catch to Gilchrist, but he could not react in time and grassed the chance.
One dropped catch, and Gilchrist immediately knew his time with the baggy green was up.
“I reckon before the ball hit the ground, I turned around at [Matthew] Hayden and said, ‘Mate, I’m done, I’m out,'” Gilchrist described his immediate realisation in an interview in 2021.
Yesterday, another modern-day Australian great called time on his ODI career a day after he top-scored for his side but could not deliver what was expected off of him.
With Australia batting first in the first semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy against India, Steve Smith came to the crease in the third over after opener Cooper Connolly got out for a nine-ball duck.
Smith absorbed the pressure from the Indian pacers, kept the scoreboard ticking against a skilled spin attack, and brought up his 35th ODI half-century along the way.
But when it was time to press on the accelerator, Smith missed a full toss from Mohammad Shami and was bowled for 73 off 96 balls.
“I missed a full toss. It wasn’t ideal,” Smith said after the match, specifying that as the turning point of the match.
And, within 24 hours, Smith announced he is done with the one-day format.
“It has been a great ride and I have loved every minute of it… Now is a great opportunity for people to start preparing for the 2027 World Cup, so, it feels like the right time to make way,” Smith was quoted in a Cricket Australia press release.
Now, whether his mode of dismissal played a role in his decision to retire is something only Smith himself can clarify.
But Smith’s sudden decision to move on from the format is very much in line with the cricket culture in Australia, where players prefer stepping aside at the right time rather than waiting to be told to move on.
For Bangladesh fans who often see their heroes turn villains over the course of their careers, it won’t be hard to notice the stark cultural difference that exists between the two nations.
Smith’s ODI average in the format had dipped to 35.32 since 2023, but the cricketer who finished on 5800 ODI runs with an average of 43.27, he was still an important figure in the Australian line-up for his ability to buckle down in tough situations.
Smith could’ve strived to join the likes of Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath and Gilchrist by winning a third ODI World Cup in 2027, but didn’t as clinging on to a place in the side by virtue of past achievements and blocking the way for new stars to emerge, is just not the Australian way.
Such examples are rare in most cricketing countries and is impossible to find at a place like Bangladesh, where, for out of touch senior players, that moment of clarity never arrives.