Steve Smith will lead Washington Freedom’s charge in Major League Cricket 2024.

Smith will join our leadership group alongside former Australian skipper and legend Ricky Ponting, who has been appointed as our coach this season.

“Good to be here. Looking forward to taking part in this year’s tournament (MLC). We have a really exciting squad,” Smith said ahead of our first practice session.

“We will try and bring everyone together as quickly as possible and hopefully play some good cricket. We are going to go out there, doing our best to win games for the Freedom”

Smith takes the baton from fellow Australian Moises Henriques, who led us to a third-place finish in the inaugural edition of the MLC last year.

Smith led Australia in 38 Test matches from 2014 to 2023, winning 21 of those and losing just 10. He was also in charge of 58 One-Day Internationals for Australia, with the team winning 30 of those matches.

Under Smith’s astute leadership, Australia continued its prior dominance in international cricket across all formats.

Apart from captaincy, Smith is also one of the best batters in modern-day international cricket with loads of runs across formats. In 109 Tests for the Aussies, Smith has amassed 9685 at an average of just under 57. He has also accumulated 5446 runs in ODIs averaging close to 44.

Smith is also an experienced customer in T20 cricket having played a total of 246 T20s across the globe including 67 T20Is for Australia. He has more than 5000 runs,  including three centuries, with a healthy average of 30.79 in the shortest format.

Smith became the first player from Sydney Sixers to score a century in the Big Bash League T20 tournament in 2023 and followed it up with another hundred in the space of just four days.

Smith is also the proud owner of several records and achievements throughout his playing career. He was the youngest player to be awarded the ICC Cricketer of the Year at the age of just 26. He also won the ICC Men’s Test Player of the Decade award from 2011-2020.

Smith is the fastest Australian and sixth-fastest ever to reach 10000 runs in international cricket. He is also the only player to win the ICC Test Player of the Year more than once.  

Smith’s experience as a captain and player will help us in our journey forward in the MLC. Here’s wishing Steve Smith a great season ahead with us in the MLC.