Rarely have we seen a batsman dominate cricket as Steve Smith has done in the ongoing Ashes series. To score 671 runs in five innings at an average of 134.2 is an astounding feat. That’s just 303 runs short of Don Bradman’s record for most runs in a series, 974, in the 1930 Ashes. And Smith has missed three innings after a concussion. But more than the stats, it’s the circumstances that make this as good as it gets. England isn’t the easiest place for batting, as India will attest. England bowling has gained an added dimension with the pace and bounce of West Indian import Jofra Archer. The dismal performance of David Warner, one of the stars of the last Indian Premier League, makes Smith’s feat stand out even more.
Then there is the mental discipline required to block out the jeers and let the bat do the talking. Smith marked his return to Test cricket after a year’s ban for ball-tampering with centuries in both innings at Edgbaston, helping Australia come out on top after being 122-8. These were centuries that mattered, and not just milestones. Smith was on track to another century in the next Test at Lord’s when he was felled by an Archer bouncer. It was one of the most hostile spells we have seen in Test cricket, harking back to the era of the West Indian fast bowling quartet. Concussion kept Smith out of the second innings, as well as the next Test at Headingley, which England won, thanks to a 76-run last-wicket stand between Ben Stokes and Jack Leach. Smith was back in the fourth Test at Old Trafford and promptly silenced talk about his technique against short-pitch bowling with a double century. He rubbed it in with a cheeky comment about how England’s bouncer plan had backfired. By now, every pundit from commentator Michael Holding to English batting legends had a view on how to get Smith out. But he just kept going on and on, missing a century in the second innings with an unselfish push to raise the scoring rate.
He’s not the most elegant batsman to watch, with his crab-like movement across the wicket, working the ball to the leg side with unerring regularity. Anything short of a length, he’s happy to cut or pull. His open-chested position, after his initial move towards off, allows him to judge which deliveries to leave alone better than most. The cover drive—a hallmark of most batting greats—may be Smith’s weakest shot because of his initial movement. Holding’s advice was to keep bowling full outside off-stump, but even a bowler as experienced as Stuart Broad has tried that without much success. Smith seems to have an answer to everything. And, it has come about by perfecting a technique that is his own. He looked awkward when he started out, and still does. But he has attained a pinnacle by sticking to his way. What a pity that a batsman so great should be tarnished forever by a ball sand-papering scandal during a Test series in South Africa. Many have tried to paper this over by alluding to grey areas in cricket. But it was a deliberate act of cheating under Smith’s watch as captain. It’s a stigma he won’t be able to shake off. But then, life is not black and white.
