In his conversation with Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor Jo Harman, Smith touched on his experiences as a player and captain, as well as how he sees cricket developing in the near future in a fast-evolving landscape.

Smith was asked directly about South Africa's Test tour of New Zealand in 2024 that saw the Proteas send what was effectively a third-string squad due to a clash with the SA20, South Africa's franchise T20 competition for which Smith acts as its commissioner.

Not wanting to dilute the talent of the SA20, South Africa fielded seven debutants across the two-Test series, including Neil Brand who captained his nation in what remain his only two international appearances. South Africa lost both Tests but still became the first side to qualify for the World Test Championship after embarking an outstanding run of form across the 2024-25 season.

You can listen to the full 45-minute interview with Smith exclusively on the Wisden Patreon channel.

"It's a complex discussion," said Smith. "It [the clash between the SA20 and the New Zealand Tests] shouldn't have happened but it did and it's unfortunate. Going forward, aligning the Future Tours Programme, sorting out the schedule is a key part of not just South African's cricket discussion but world cricket's discussion.

"I'm not sure what the solutions are, franchise cricket is growing... I think you will probably end up with four tier one leagues throughout the calendar year. There are a lot of questions around bilateral cricket, context of cricket, and how much cricket is memorable these days. When teams are highly competitive and nations are playing against each other it's always great to watch but in terms of how revenue is being driven and what the future looks like, it's a complex thing but it [the SA20 clash] shouldn't have happened and it won't happen again."

On Test cricket's broader future, Smith said that given the financial constraints of hosting Test cricket, it is unlikely to be a format that is played by more than a handful of nations.

"There are complexities in the world game when it comes to Test cricket," said Smith. "The revenues received for Test cricket for nations outside of India, England and Australia are decreasing dramatically, it costs more to put on a Test match. Just the economics of it all puts the Test game under pressure. For me, as a game that I love, you want to see it grow and strengthen and I actually think it's been a pretty good year for Test cricket in many ways. The fact that the Proteas men's team are challenging for the World Test Championship is great.

"For us in SA20, our goal is not only to put on a hugely successful event but to keep South African cricket strong. We work closely with Cricket South Africa on a number of elements. Our goal is to also expose players to the best international players so a lot of goals align internally and I think if we can develop a strong talented group of players that can benefit in all three formats with Test cricket being one of them.

"I just think the complexities of the economics is really challenging Test cricket the most and unfortunately, I don't know how that turns around. At the MCC we discussed whether there needs to be a fund to protect Test cricket. My thoughts on Test cricket are that it's never going to be more than a six- or seven-nation format. T20 is going to be your growth [format] where hopefully you can introduce it to new nations with the Olympics and you saw New York [the 2024 T20 World Cup] happen now, as well."

You can listen to the full interview with Smith here.