Smith’s battle to get a grip

CALL 000 and sound the alarm — the world’s best batsman has forgotten how to hold the bat.

Just 19 days out from the Ashes opener at the Gabba and Steve Smith says he is as desperate for runs as the cavalcade of nervous candidates vying for Australia’s vacant No.6 position.

Smith hasn’t made a century since hitting 111 in the fourth Test in India in late March. He posted 119 runs at 29.8 on the two-Test tour of Bangladesh in August-September then followed that with 142 runs at 28.4 in five one-day internationals in India.

Upon returning home he was out for just three and nine against South Australia in last week’s Sheffield Shield opener.

But it’s not a lack of runs that’s concerning him.

Every now and then, Smith admits that he falls victim to an unthinkable scenario: perhaps Australia’s most lethal runmaker since Sir Donald Bradman forgets the most basic of fundamentals.

It sounds extreme, but the good news is it’s a problem he has successfully overcome more than once before.

“At times you go through patches where things don’t feel right. Believe it or not I actually forget how to hold the bat sometimes,” Smith said.

“I come home and tell [fiancee] Dani I forgot how to hold it today. It’s a bit strange for someone who is meant to be one of the better batters around the world.”

Smith confirmed yesterday on the eve of NSW’s Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia today that unfortunately now is one of those personal troughs.

“I just need to figure out how to hold the bat again,” he said. “I haven’t felt great for a little while now and I just need to spend some time in the middle. I had a really good hit … I felt like I figured things out [in the nets] at the end so hopefully I can put that out into the middle.”

Smith has batted on up to half an hour after his NSW teammates the past two days — not unusual for Australia’s most fastidious figure at practice.

“I go through those challenges and have to overcome those things,” Smith said.

“You get advice from all different people, all your coaches and people in the team, but ultimately it is your career and you have to find the way to play for you.

“People say I go across my stumps a long way, ‘Aren’t you just going to get out LBW?’ But I’ll cop that. If I get out lbw I am actually happy. If I get out nicking outside off stump I am disappointed in myself.”