Steve Smith, the mean run machine
Love him or hate him, Steve Smith, with a snarky swagger who can be rather arrogant and bolshie at times, as well as being quirky, is one of the world’s best batsmen right now!
Born on June 2 1989, in Sydney, New South Wales, to an Australian father and English mother, as a teenager Smith bowled leg breaks more than he batted, playing initially for Sevenoaks Villa, NSW State and Sydney Sixers. Since then he’s assisted Worcestershire, the Rising Pune Supergiants, Barbados Tridents, Comilla Victorians and Rajasthan Royals.
Having entered the international arena in 2010, he quickly established himself in the Australian team at number 3 or 4 and in 2015 took over from Michael as captain.
Over the last five years or so he’s won numerous awards including the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy/ ICC Cricketer of the Year ( 2015); ICC Test Player of the Year ( 2015 & 2017); the Allan Border Medal as Australia’s best player ( 2015, 2018 & 2019); Australian
Test Player of the Year ( 2015, 2018 & 2019) and Australian ODI Player of the Year ( 2015).
He was named as one Wisden’s ‘ Cricketers of the Year’ in 2015 and in 2014 explayer Martin Crowe described him as one Test Cricket’s ‘ Fab Four’, the others being England’s Joe Root, New Zealander Kane Williamson and India’s Virat Kholi.
Having smashed 687 runs against England in the 201718 Ashes Series, Smith was heavily criticised for overseeing balltampering in the third Test against South Africa in March 2018, subsequently standing down as captain and replaced by Tim Paine.
Following an investigation by Cricket Australia, Smith and two teammates, David Warner and Bancroft, were banned from playing cricket in Australia for one year, starting on March 29, 2018. The crime was ‘ balltampering’ and the culprits were also informed they would not be considered for a leadership role for another year.
In July 2019, Smith and his ‘ shamed’ colleagues were named in Australia's squad for the Ashes series in England, and in the first Test at Edgbaston, Smith scored 144 and 142, helping the Aussies to a 251run victory.
The second ‘ ton’ was his tenth in Ashes competitions and at that time he became the secondfastest batsman to score 25 Test hundreds, with only Don Bradman ahead of him.
He continued to flay the England bowlers in the first innings of the second Test and despite being hit in the neck by a 148.7 km ball from Jofra Archer, he scored 92.
After missing the third Test with concussion, Smith returned for the fourth encounter at Old Trafford and having being named as the world’s top Test batsman, he scored a majestic 211 and 82 as the Aussies swept to victory by 185 runs to retain the Ashes.
Then, in the final Test at The Oval, Smith struck 80 and 23 but his efforts failed to prevent the Aussies from losing the match as England won by 135 runs to level the series at 22.
Smith’s total of 774 runs in the 2019 Ashes series ( average of 110.57) was 200 short of Bradman’s alltime 1930 record.
Almost immediately Smith was voted by the I. C. C. as the world’s number one Test batsman for the fifth year running: 201519. Virat Kholi has since taken over the mantle.
Fact File:
So far in his firstclass career Smith has scored 14,123 runs for an average of 40.53.
■ He’s amassed 7,227 at Test level, 4,162 in ODIs, 712 in T20
games and 2,022 in the IPL.
■ He’s one of only five Australians to score a century in both innings of an Ashes Test, following Warren Bardsley ( 136 and 139 in 1909), Arthur Morris ( 122 & 124 in 1947), Steve Waugh ( 108 & 116 in 1997) and Matthew Hayden ( 197 & 103 in 2002).
■ He’s the fastest Australian batsman and sixth fastest in the world, to reach 10,000 runs in International cricket.
■ He’s only the second batsman to score 1,000+ runs in Test cricket in four consecutive calendar years: 201619.
■ He’s the joint secondfastest batsman to reach 6,000 Test runs, after Bradman, being the youngest Aussie and the fourth youngest player in the world, to reach this milestone.
■ He’s only the second batsman, after Bradman, to score four consecutive Test centuries at the MCG.
■ During Australia’s 2018 South African tour, he equaled the joint world record by taking five catches as a nonwicketkeeper in a Test innings; only the 11th fielder to achieve this feat.
■ His 11 Ashes hundreds is bettered only by Don Bradman ( 19) and Jack Hobbs ( 12).
■ Smith's highest Test score ( and his best in all games) is 239 v. England at the WACA in 2017.
■ The fastest Australian to reach 4,000 runs in ODIs, his highest score in this field is 164 v. New Zealand in Sydney in 2016.
■ His highest score in T20 Internationals is 90 v. England at Cardiff in 2015.
■ His highest score in IPL/ T20 Blast games is 101 for Rising Pune Supergiants v. Gujarat Lions in 2016.
■ We can also add to his repertoire 240 firstclass wickets and 370 catches, plus a few runouts as well.
So what next for Steve Smith, master batsman? We wait with baited breath!