’Unsettled’ Smith in worst career slump
STEVE Smith is in the midst of the worst form slump of his career after failing to register a century in for the second home summer in three years.
Were it not for his 131 against India in Sydney in 2021, Smith would not have reached three figures at home since the 2017 Ashes series. Smith has only managed 244 runs at an average of 30.5 this Ashes series with a top score of 93, which are still reasonable returns, but not for someone of Smith’s caliber, particularly at home.
Ever since New Zealand targeted Smith with the short ball in 2019 he has struggled to avoid getting out to those type of tactics, and it again brought his demise in his final Test innings of the 2021-22 Ashes series. Smith pulled a ball from Mark Wood down the throat of fine-leg Dawid Malan to be out for 27.
Brett Lee noted Smith was lulled into playing a shot that he simply didn’t have to, particularly with the state of the game and Australia reeling at 5-63 in their second innings.
“Mark Wood set the trap and Steve Smith just couldn’t help himself,” Lee said on Fox Cricket.
“He could have easily gone inside it and ducked it or left it but he wanted to play that.”
Given how easily Smith has dominated opposition attacks in recent years it is a strange mix of arrogance and confidence that he seems to fall for the short-ball trap.
Smith wants to dominate bowlers due to his obsessive nature and lust for runs, but like any Test cricketer, that is hard to do when you are out of touch, which Smith is.
Mark Waugh believes Smith is being frustrated by the England bowlers to the point he plays shots that are simply not on in a desperate bid to gain the ascendancy over his opposition. “These short ball tactics do unsettle him,” Waugh said
“He probably could have got underneath it but he tried to hit it for six. He didn’t get enough of it and just rolled over the top of it slightly.
“He sort of had to fetch it down the leg side.”
Smith was seen shaking his head in the dressing room long after he’d taken his pads off as he processed the fact his lean summer had ended.
“Steve Smith can’t believe it,” Brendon Julian said. “A batsman of his quality and the trap was set and perfectly executed by England.”
It is inevitable when a player of Smith’s quality reaches the heights he has that teams will do anything possible to get him out. The bodyline tactics employed by New Zealand two summers ago are affecting Smith and Waugh challenged him to find a way to counter it.
“I want to look at his dismissal today which was the hook shot,” Waugh said.
“We go back to 2019 and New Zealand employed this bodyline tactic. Lots of short pitch bowling. Man on the leg side. Nothing outside offstump. They were successful.
“Steve Smith got out a number of times to the short ball. Back then he was averaging 64 in test match cricket. “Since then his average has dropped down to 37. So it really has affected his success rate at the crease.
“Steve Smith is going to have to work on this. You will see a lot of bowlers from around the world employing this sort of tactic. What can he come up with in the future to deal with this?”