Smith may simply be having a ball

STEVE Smith is trying to make the most of the spare time he has ahead of him, but will he use any of it to reinvest in his bowling?

The fallen Australian captain rolled the arm over in the Toronto Nationals’ loss to Edmonton yesterday as the Canada Global League roadshow rolled on.

It was just one over, and the four dot balls he bowled were undone somewhat by being hammered for a six, but in his brief cameo Smith found plenty of turn and some good areas in Toronto.

Smith hasn’t bowled in a Twenty20 international since 2014, a one-day international in over two years and only sparingly in Test matches since he was recalled to the Test side in 2013. This reluctance is all the more curious as Smith made his Australian debut as a leg-spinner.

One theory is that Smith is such a perfectionist that he doesn’t want to risk failure by trying his hand at a discipline he doesn’t train enough at.