Steve Smith does not know if he will play the 2027 Ashes. The 37-year-old told The Telegraph he is living series by series, and England is still a long way off.
“I don’t even know if I’ll be there yet. I’m kind of a series-by-series proposition, as I’ve been for a while, and that’s still a fair way away for me right now. So, yeah, I’d love to win one there or to have won one there, but you wait and see if that comes to fruition.”
Steve Smith, The Telegraph, September 14, 2026
Smith made the comments while playing for Amsterdam Flames in the European T20 Premier League. He was not discussing retirement in the abstract. He was answering a direct question about the next Ashes tour of England, starting at Trent Bridge in June 2027.
The admission carries weight because no active batter has a stronger case to be in England. Smith has scored 2,000 Test runs on English soil at an average of 57.14 with seven centuries. In 2019, he made 774 runs at 110.57 across four Tests, one of the greatest individual Ashes performances in history. Both that series and the 2023 tour ended 2-2.
Smith is ranked second in the ICC Test batting rankings behind England’s Harry Brook. He has 125 Test caps, 37 centuries, and a career average that places him among the five greatest Test batters of the 21st century. His 2025-26 Ashes yielded 286 runs at 57.20, including his record-breaking 37th Test century at Sydney, moving him behind only Don Bradman for Ashes centuries.
None of it has produced a series win in England. Australia have not won an Ashes series away from home since 2001, a gap that now spans Smith’s entire career.
| Smith in England | Matches | Runs | Average | Centuries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Ashes | 5 | 508 | 56.44 | 2 |
| 2019 Ashes | 4 | 774 | 110.57 | 3 |
| 2023 Ashes | 5 | 387 | 43.00 | 1 |
| 2025-26 (home) | 5 | 286 | 57.20 | 1 |
| Total in England | 19 | 2,000 | 57.14 | 7 |
The problem is not form. It is what stands between now and Trent Bridge.
Australia’s schedule before the 2027 Ashes includes three Tests in South Africa starting October 9, four home Tests against New Zealand in December, and a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour of India in January. That is 12 Tests across three series, two of them away from home, before England.
The South Africa tour is Smith’s first visit since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town. India has not been beaten by Australia in a home Test series since 2004-05. Smith will turn 38 before the first ball at Trent Bridge.
“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.”
Steve Smith, The Telegraph, September 14, 2026
His stated priority now is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where T20 cricket returns to the Games. Smith retired from ODI cricket in March 2025 after Australia’s Champions Trophy semifinal exit. He joined Amsterdam Flames specifically to maintain T20 match fitness, and he has been opening for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash to develop his power game.
“Right now probably it’s just the Olympics to try to be a part of that,” Smith told The Telegraph. A Test great choosing a T20 tournament over an Ashes farewell tells you more about his body than his words do.
— England’s Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) September 14, 2026
Insider Read
Twelve Tests in seven months across South Africa, New Zealand, and India before a five-Test Ashes. That is the schedule of a 25-year-old, not a 38-year-old. Smith’s body has already told him the answer. The series-by-series language is not caution. It is a man who knows that one bad back spasm in Durban, one knee flare in Bengaluru, and the conversation shifts from “will he tour England” to “has he played his last Test.” The fact that his goal has moved from winning the Ashes to making the Olympics says everything about where the physical margins sit.
Players who have toured England at that age know the toll. Five Tests in six weeks on seaming pitches, with Dukes balls that move off the surface for 80 overs. Cold mornings, heavy atmospheres, long days in the field. The 2019 Smith who averaged 110 was 30 years old. The 2027 version would be eight years older, coming off the most gruelling away schedule in Australian cricket. Ambition does not fade at 38. Bodies do.
Australia’s 25-year drought in England is not about one player. But Smith is the only active Australian who has individually conquered those conditions and still could not turn it into a series win. If his body holds through 12 Tests and he makes it to Trent Bridge, the 2027 Ashes becomes the last chance to complete the one gap in one of the great Test careers. If it does not, the greatest modern Ashes batter will retire without ever winning in England.
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