Smith’s needless errors give England
Australia’s captain has tarnished his aura with some poor calls
Steve Smith left Brisbane laughing and draped in laurels. He will head to Perth not as the history man of this series but a leader who made life harder for his men in Adelaide – a considerable sin by a captain. The flaws exposed in Australia’s skipper offered hope to England as they try to retain the Ashes.
A Test that Australia ought to have tucked away in their wallet after they removed England for 227 to give themselves a lead of 215 turned into a mess for Smith’s team – and the captain was largely responsible. The almost superhuman aura that had been constructed around the world’s No1 batsman, after his 141 not out at the Gabba, had yet to face a couple of important stress tests.
One was English aggression, verbal and even physical; the other was a trial of his decision making, in respect of following-on and the decision review system. In a kernel, Australia’s leader was out-sledged by James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and declined to enforce the follow-on when England were reeling. With the bat, he scored 40 and six. Then, in England’s second innings, he burned two reviews in three deliveries to leave Australia powerless in the face of marginal decisions as Joe Root led the pursuit of 354 runs to win.
And to round off a bad couple of days at the office, Smith dropped Dawid Malan low to his right in the 55th over of England’s second innings as Australian nerves began to twitch. Before that misfortune, Graeme Swann, the former England spinner, told his listeners: “Steve Smith made an absolute howling decision by batting again. [It was] a decision driven by ego. The Australians decided to try to grind England into the dust and it’s really backfired.”
The chains of office hang heavily on Australia’s cricket captains, yet Smith seemed to be easing his way to greatness before a turbulent few days at the Adelaide Oval knocked him off course. The supreme confidence of Brisbane was replaced by uncertainty. His prowess with the bat at the Gabba was such that any leadership deficiencies could be hidden. Certainly in Brisbane, where he turned the match virtually on his own. Defending on his back foot, where he was able to kill every dangerous ball, Smith looked impossible to remove. He laid on a masterclass of ball-by-ball calculation, leaving every delivery that might get him out and accumulating patiently. England were broken by his discipline and authority.
In the aftermath, Australian legends wondered whether he might end up as the country’s greatest batsman. The praise flowed and flowed. But he had not been through the wringer yet as captain in an Ashes series, which presents a maelstrom of stresses.
England had new “plans” for him. Not bowling ones so much as a scheme to drag him out of his “bubble”, as Michael Vaughan suggested. Having Anderson stand at short mid-on when Smith was batting in the first innings was the culmination of a plot to stop him thinking he could dominate.
The idea that Smith could be