Don of a new era
Unstoppable Smith draws comparisons to Bradman
It’s becoming indisputable that Steve Smith is Australia’s best batsman since Sir Donald Bradman as he ransacked England’s Ashes attack at the Waca with a career-best 229 not out.
Former test great Michael Slater declared Smith is the premier batsman for two simple reasons and that is he’s the smartest and most adaptable by a considerable margin.
Mark Taylor, the man who with Brad Haddin’s urging endorsed Smith’s ascension to the Australian captaincy, said Smith’s extraordinary exploits in Perth was as good as the 28-year-old has ever played, in a career now spanning 22 centuries from 59 tests.
Only Bradman and former Indian maestro Sunil Gavaskar plundered so many tons in fewer test matches, and Smith now has the second highest average in the history of the game behind The Don.
To put Smith’s electric pace into perspective, it took Steve Waugh 127 tests to make 22 hundreds.
Australia were staring down the barrel of trouble when Smith arrived at the crease on day two, but 24 hours later he had for the second time this series flipped an Ashes match on its head and had England losing their tenuous grip on the urn.
The Aussies reached stumps in front by 146 runs at 549-4 — with Smith and Mitchell Marsh (181 not out) in utter control.
During his surge past 150, Smith passed the 1000 runs in a season barrier for the fourth consecutive calendar year. Only Matthew Hayden has bettered that mark — scoring 1000 for five consecutive years.
Smith took just 138 balls to register his faultless century, and it was the contrast with his 261-ball ton in the first test in Brisbane that summed up the skipper’s unparalleled talents in the modern game.
“I think he’s the smartest batsman around. The difference between him and the others is that no batsman adjusts quicker to the conditions.
“He can score a century off 140 balls when the conditions are good,” said Slater.
“Or off 300 balls if he has to. That’s the difference. A lot of the batsmen don’t play smart like he does. This was one of his great innings.”
Smith famously debuted as a spin bowling all-rounder batting No 8 back in 2010.
By the time he made his first hundred three years later, he had been dropped for a number of seasons and had a test average of 29.
Since then Smith has slaughtered 22 tons in 48 tests at a mind-blowing average of 71.
Some wondered if the pressures of captaincy would weigh down Smith like they have Joe Root — but since becoming skipper his average has soared to over 73.
“It’s as good as he’s ever been,” said Taylor.
The key difference for Australia yesterday as opposed to so many of Smith’s other masterclasses, was that this was not entirely a one-man show.
Mitchell Marsh played beautifully in his return to test cricket to post an unbeaten 301-run stand with Smith, which overshadowed partnerships of 100 (Usman Khawaja) and 50 (Shaun Marsh) with the Australian skipper.
The all-rounder dictated the bowling absolutely superbly from the moment he came to the crease yesterday, with Australia still more than 150 runs behind on the scoreboard.
England great Kevin Pietersen lamented the powder puff bowling tossed up to Marsh, with a limitless offering of half-volleys helping him bludgeon the scoreboard.
Marsh barely copped a fierce short ball on his way to a superb half century and accelerated in the final session, signing off with a total of 29 fours. Smith, meanwhile kept his run-rate rocketing along and had 28 boundaries and a six at the close.