Steve Smith is attempting to propel his game forward by standing still but this month’s Twenty20 World Cup may be a step too far.
With one eye on trying to regain a permanent place in Australia’s Twenty20 team for the month’s World Cup, and the other on South Africa’s heavy-duty Test fast bowlers touring this summer, Smith has abandoned his trademark shuffle across the crease.
But another potent performance from heavy-hitting gun for hire Tim David in Friday night’s win against the West Indies, scoring 42 from just 20 balls, has put further pressure on Smith to retain his T20 place. He managed 17 from 16 balls.
Smith believes his new, statuesque batting stance will enhance his chances of inclusion in Australia’s opening T20 World Cup match against New Zealand in Sydney on October 22. He also feels it will leave him in better shape, quite literally, for the Test series against South Africa at the height of the summer.
“A couple of the ways I’ve got out against them in the past, I’ve actually squared up a bit off the back foot and been caught behind a couple of times with some of their bouncier bowlers,” Smith told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age about facing South Africa’s quicks.
“Having guys like [Kagiso] Rabada, and [Marco] Jansen now, who are quite tall and get extra bounce, hopefully being a bit more side-on will enable me to leave the ball better and just get in better positions.”
Steve Smith is being challenged for his place in Australia’s T20 team.Credit:Getty Images
Rabada, Jansen and Anrich Nortje carved up England at Lord’s earlier this year as South Africa won the first Test by an innings, before England won the next two comfortably.
Smith’s sole Test hundred against South Africa, at Centurion Park back in 2014, is notable for the fact his shuffle across the crease, then in its infancy, is far less pronounced than it later became. His career average of 41.53 against the Proteas is Smith’s slimmest against any nation he has played in more than two Tests.
Once he slipped past Bradman’s 6996 career runs, Smith was out on his own claiming major milestones. Against Pakistan earlier this year, Smith became the fastest man to 8,000 Test runs, reaching the milestone in 151 innings.
He beat Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, who reached the mark in 152 innings. India’s all-time great, Sachin Tendulkar, took 154 innings. Smith charged past fellow Australians Matthew Hayden (164 innings), Ricky Ponting (165), Michael Clarke (172), Allan Border (184) and Steve Waugh (194).
Steve Smith in action for Australia’s T20 side in India this year.Credit:Getty
Smith has always stayed still to spinners but his shuffle across the crease to fast bowlers, covering his off stump, left the quicks with small margins for error as he picked off balls through the leg side and pounced on anything with width outside the off stump.
However after his phenomenal 2019 Ashes tours, when he scored 774 runs at an average of 110.57, teams started bowling at Smith differently.
With New Zealand’s manic left-arm fast bowler Neil Wagner leading the way later that year, teams began to attack Smith’s body, restricting his scoring.
Despite continuing to average well, Smith managed just one century in his next 31 Test innings until an unbeaten 145 (and a duck) in his most recent Test, in Sri Lanka last July.
That’s when he began standing still to Sri Lanka’s only seamer, Kasun Rajitha, to better counter his reverse swing.
“I’ve had stages that I’ve been going a little bit too far across,” Smith said of his shuffle.
“I felt like I’m just getting a bit front-on, just getting into positions I haven’t been happy with.”
Smith said this related to white ball cricket as well as Test cricket.
“If you get too front-on you’re just going to lose power and the ability to hit the ball both sides of the wicket as much,” he said. “That’s the main reason behind [the change].”
For all his greatness, Smith’s lack of a brutal power game is in danger of leaving him a boundary-side spectator during Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign a year after he performed modestly as a member of the team that won this country’s first T20 World Cup.
Yet Smith believes it is trying to play the power game which has led him to this crossroad.
“I don’t think I can buy into that,” he said. “I’ve probably been guilty of this in the past, trying to up my power game. I’ve tried to do that and it’s just not me.
“So I’m just being authentic and playing my way, and if I do that, I feel I’m good enough for any team.”
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