Will Smeed leaves red-ball cricket to sign contract extension in white-ball formats

Will Smeed (Source: Twitter)

After an incredible season with Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, opening batter Will Smeed has signed a one-year deal with Somerset in the white ball format. Hence, leaving out red ball cricket at least until 2024.

After signing the contract, Smeed said, 

“I feel that my game is better suited to white-ball cricket,

“After a huge amount of thorough and considered discussions, I feel that I need to solely focus my attention on the limited overs formats in order to become the very best cricketer I can be.

“I know how much our Members love red-ball cricket, but unfortunately I haven’t been performing how I would like to in the longer form of the game. The easy option would have been to carry on playing red-ball cricket and try to fit everything in and reach a certain level across all formats, but I want to try to be the best that I can be. To achieve this, I feel that I need to focus on excelling in one format,"

Smeed has been following the footsteps of the current crop of English players with the likes of Alex Hales and Adil Rashid who focused solely on shorter formats. The results are there to see as both of them have been prolific in white ball cricket for England, especially in the World Cups.

However, the 21-year-old did mention that he might return to the format in future but at the moment he has got his priorities sorted.

“I’m certainly not saying that I’ll never play red-ball cricket again. I just feel that this is the right decision for me and Somerset at the current time."

Striking at a rate of 141, he amassed a total of 886 runs in 35 T20 matches. Also, the right-hander signed a deal earlier this year that runs until 2023 and now, the new one will conclude in 2024.

Also Read: Ace England batter Sam Billings opts out of IPL 2023