Smith: I’d love to play every game

Australia captain Steve Smith has expressed his desire to play in every international match this summer despite having trouble with pain in his knee.

Smith has already played in the first four Tests of the summer, three against New Zealand and one against the West Indies, but has pulled out the Big Bash League with the Sydney Sixers to rest his knee before the Boxing Day Test.

The Aussies have a big summer ahead, with them hosting India in five ODIs and three T20s in January and then travelling to New Zealand to play the Black Caps in three ODIs and two Test matches.

The Australians will then take on South Africa in three T20Is away from home as a tune up for the World T20 in India, which gets underway in March, with Smith, who is regular in all three formats, keen to play all the games.

The 26 year-old Smith is the captain of the Aussies Test and ODI sides while Aaaron Finch has been confirmed as the skipper of the T20 team.

Smith said: "I'd love to play every game. This little break's going to be good for me to make sure I can sustain it and I'm just looking forward to everything else coming up, and hopefully be out in the field every game.

"There's plenty on for the rest of the summer and going forward, so a little break's not a bad thing for me and good to go for Boxing Day. It's been good, nice to spend a little bit of time at home and just unwind and do all that.

"I'd love to be a part of the World Cup and the T20s here at home as well, so we'll wait and see how the rest of the summer goes, hopefully I'll be fine to play those."

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