Galle: In the final five years or so of his Test career, Shane Warne often spoke about getting back to the “golden years”, those few precious summers when his prodigious skills were at their peak.
For Steve Smith (120 not out), it would now appear that his own golden years are no longer beyond the 35-year-old’s powers to regain. With a superbly skilful and wise innings here, Smith totted up his 36th Test hundred, second in as many innings and fourth in five games.
Steve Smith’s fourth century in five Tests.Credit: AP
Helped by a wonderfully busy and poised Alex Carey (139 not out) who batted number five in place of a sore Josh Inglis, Smith didn’t just corral Sri Lanka’s spinners on a crumbling pitch. He also proved he is not incapable of adding strings to his bow even in his 116th Test – he took Carey’s cue to use reverse and conventional sweeps with better effect than ever before.
Smith very rarely resorts to the shot, a bit like Steve Waugh once avoided playing the hook. But a cracked and dusty Galle surface brought it out of the locker to break up the lengths of the home side’s spin attack. By stumps the stand was worth 239 and the lead a priceless 73, with more batting to come.
And before anyone from England argues that Smith is “stat-padding”, it is worth noting that Joe Root’s creative rebirth as a Test batter took place at this very ground in 2021, where he cuffed 426 runs in two matches. Smith now has 261 in two innings.
“It certainly surprised me when he went the reverse sweep without a helmet on, he’s got some nice teeth, which aren’t cheap, so I suggested to put a helmet on,” Carey joked afterwards. “I was surprised he went to that, but I’m not surprised he was able to do it with success.
“He’s batted a fair bit the last couple of Tests, he’s had a lot on his plate, and to be able to focus again for [239] balls in these conditions is another hundred to his CV and going down as an all-time great.”
Carey used artful hands, supple wrists and dancing feet to stride to his first century for Australia overseas. He has seldom played better, perhaps only in Christchurch last year, and by doing so backed up the well-wishes of teammates and coaches who had been very eager to talk Carey up this week.
They had been irked by some public suggestions that Inglis’ hundred in the first Test put the wicketkeeper’s spot up for debate. Not so, came the rebuttals, and Carey responded grandly on a far trickier pitch. He’s not far short of Adam Gilchrist’s record score by an Australian wicketkeeper in South Asia.
Unquestionably, Australia needed Smith to stand up on day two. He walked to the crease after Sri Lanka had scrambled to 257, and following Marnus Labuschagne’s swift departure.
It was a dismissal that the number three seemed to know now leaves his Test future very much in the hands of the selectors with Cameron Green due back soon. Since the start of 2023, Labuschagne is averaging barely 30, and has only one century.
After making 20 on a much less challenging surface last week, Labuschagne slapped his first ball to the cover boundary as he tried to take the positive approach required.
Alex Carey swept Sri Lanka to distraction.Credit: Getty Images
But he was bewitched by left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who found some sharp turn away from the bat before arrowing a flatter ball in towards the stumps to pin the number three haplessly in front on the back foot – although DRS was required to confirm the lbw.
Initially seeming confident that the ball was sliding down the leg side, Labuschagne sank to his haunches and hung his head when the verdict was relayed.
Falling so soon after Travis Head (21) skewered another fiendishly spinning ball to slip as he tried to hit Nishan Peiris down the ground, Labuschagne’s dismissal left Smith with much to do. There were more tremors when Usman Khawaja (36) fell lbw to a correct call by umpire Joel Wilson, but Carey brought calm.
Needing one more wicket on resumption, Nathan Lyon and Matt Kuhnemann both looked a little below their best following a long day one in the field – ultimately they slogged through 67.4 overs between them.
The Australians had not wanted to concede much more than 200 to Sri Lanka given their assessment of the pitch’s vagaries, but Kusal Mendis (85 not out) gave Jayasuriya and company something to work with.
After Head and Labuschagne came and went, Smith’s first ball also skidded on and appeared to strike the back pad, drawing a vociferous appeal and another review.
But replays showed Jayasuriya’s delivery had in fact brushed front pad first, meaning it was destined to miss leg stump. Wilson gave Smith out soon after lunch, drawing an instant review as the striker confidently tipped the ball had struck him well outside the line, and indeed it had.
Khawaja’s exit, misjudging a pull shot, set the Australians back, but Carey did not allow himself to get bogged down. Playing at a high tempo and rotating the strike, Carey encouraged Smith to do likewise, and together they gained control.
Steve Smith’s reverse sweep.Credit: Getty Images
Smith combined decisive shots in attack and pad-lined, two-footed defence. Carey was never less than fluent, and as his captain tired, he took over the bulk of the scoring.
After tea, Smith and Carey carried on with grim resolve, pushing singles, weathering the occasional tough delivery or spell and taking Australia well into the lead. Smith’s century arrived with a pull shot that split long on and deep midwicket, causing Carey to raise his arms above his head in appreciation before the ball crossed the rope.
When Carey’s turn came, he nailed two sweep shots in three balls, splitting the leg side boundary riders as though wire-guided, to go from 92 to 100 from just 118 balls, and was warmly embraced by Smith. Inglis, by the way, was in the front row of the team viewing area to applaud.
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