Steve Smith's Uncertain Future: No Ashes Farewell Tour Yet

Steve Smith is not promising anyone an Ashes farewell tour. Not yet.

At 37, with a record that already guarantees him a place among Australia’s greats, the right-hander is refusing to circle England 2025 in ink. The next Ashes, the shot at a first series win in England, the romantic last-chapter narrative – all of it can wait.

“I don't even know if I’ll be there yet,” Smith told The Telegraph, laying out his position with the same clarity he brings to the crease. For him, every Test campaign is now a self-contained decision. Series by series. No grand declarations, no farewell lap announced in advance.

That stance leaves a tantalising question hanging over Australia’s next tour of England. Smith has done almost everything in the game, but he has never walked off an English ground as part of an Australian side that has won an Ashes series there. The desire is real, but it is not dictating his future.

“I’d love to win one there or to have won one there,” he said. “But you wait and see if that comes to fruition.”

One series at a time

Australia are staring at a brutal Test schedule: away tours to South Africa, India and then England. For the selectors and fans, the horizon stretches years ahead. For Smith, it stops at the next challenge.

Right now, that means South Africa – and a return to the country where his career was dragged into its darkest hour.

The three-Test series will be his first red-ball cricket in South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, the episode that cost him the captaincy and a year of his career. The narrative writes itself, but Smith has no interest in reliving it.

“For me, it’s just another series,” he said. “All that happened a long time ago, and we’ve played a lot of cricket and have been back to South Africa since then for one-dayers.”

The opponents, though, demand attention. South Africa are the current holders of the World Test Championship, having beaten Australia in the final, and boast a pace attack capable of exposing any technical flaw.

“They’re a good side at the moment, obviously beat us in the World Test Championship final. They have a really good pace attack as well, so should be a cracker of a series.”

The edge in his voice is competitive, not nostalgic. This is not a man easing gently into the background.

No Test finish line – and an Olympic dream

Smith’s Test future may be open-ended, but he is not drifting towards retirement. His calendar still has clear targets, just not always in whites.

He has thrown himself into T20 cricket, chasing opportunities around the world and keeping one particularly modern ambition in view: the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where cricket is set to feature.

“Right now probably it’s just the Olympics to try to be a part of that,” he said.

That aim underpinned his decision to sign for Amsterdam in the European T20 Premier League.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to play with Amsterdam was just to continue playing as much T20 cricket as I can.”

There is no neat countdown, no stated finish date. Smith prefers something more fluid. His enjoyment of the game remains the main barometer.

“I still like to think I could play T20 cricket for a while,” he said. “What’s next for me when I finish? I’m not sure, but yeah, hopefully a bit more time left playing.

“I’ve achieved a lot in the game. It’s been a great ride for the last 15 years or thereabouts. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’m still enjoying it, so I don’t have an end date, we’ll wait and see. But it’s been a good ride.”

Still finding runs on “tricky surfaces”

The numbers say he is nowhere near done. In an era where seamers enjoy exaggerated movement and pitches often demand survival before strokeplay, Smith has quietly adapted again. Over the last two years he averages 49.4 in Tests, pushing his century tally to 37.

“I feel like I’m batting really nicely,” he said. “I’ve found different ways to go about things on these tricky surfaces and still be able to score runs.”

He talks about contribution, not legacy. Runs, catches, leadership – the everyday currency of a senior pro who still sees himself as central to the dressing room.

“So trying to contribute as well as I can for the team, score runs, take catches, help out in leadership areas where I need to. It’s been a good, fun couple of years.”

Smith stands, then, in a curious place. One of the defining batters of his generation, still scoring heavily, still tinkering with his method, still chasing new stages – from Cape Town to Los Angeles – yet unwilling to promise he will be there for the next great Ashes chapter.

Australia can plan. England can plot. The Ashes can loom.

Smith, as ever, will wait for the next ball before deciding on the shot.