Steve Smith said he was back, baby, a couple of weeks ago in the one-dayers and he wasn’t wrong.
He’s made a few technical tweaks to be more side-on with his batting stance at the crease and we saw it over an extended period on day two of the first Test against the West Indies in Perth as he cruised to 200 not out.
If the Aussies didn’t declare, he’d still be batting deep into day three the was he was peeling off the runs at will.
Everything he said a couple about having a greater ability to access more areas with more pace with his bat speed was spot on.
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Teams over the past few years have been peppering him with short balls and that tactic wasn’t necessarily getting him out but it was drying up his runs and it definitely had an effect on his form.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
He was just helping it on its way when the ball was pitched short at him and it was just getting deflected down to fine leg for the occasional single.
But now he’s thumping pulls and hook shots forward of square leg at a great rate of knots – I’m not sure where you’d want to bowl to him if you are at the top of your run-up trying to find a weakness.
I really hope he finishes averaging over 60 and if he does that he will go down as one of greatest of all time and arguably second greatest we’ve ever produced in Australia behind The Don.
He’s now got 8361 runs in 88 Tests at an average of 61.47.
There are only six batters in history who have averaged above 60 after playing at least 20 Tests but if we raise the benchmark up to 4000 runs, what you’d expect to get after 50 or so matches, there’s only two other players apart from Smitty who have done this.
Bradman, of course, with 6996 at the iconic average of 99.94 and old English opener Herb Sutcliffe from prior to World War II, who scored 4555 in 54 Tests at 60.73.
Steve’s still got that hunger to score big and wear the opposition down. If this newfound technique keeps revitalising his form like the early signs suggest, he could end up well clear of Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Greg Chappell or another other legendary Aussie batter you care to mention on numbers alone.
He and Marnus Labuschagne ruthlessly punished the Windies on day two – their running between the wickets was outstanding.
And when Marnus departed just before lunch after going on to make his double hundred, Travis Head continued the carnage.
Head’s innings was the icing on the cake, unfortunately he didn’t get that last run needed to notch a hundred.
He scores quickly and accelerates the innings like you want from a middle-order batter like Doug Walters and Andrew Symonds of yesteryear.
The green monster of a pitch certainly hasn’t turned out to be the case.
It hasn’t eroded much at all. With the pitches that have a bit of grass, the spike marks don’t get in as much and the ball doesn’t do much damage.
You cant judge the pitch until both teams have batted but the Windies bowlers were too short.
Realistically a very firm pitch like this one keeps the ball new and you can still get a bit of seam movement but you’ve got to bowl an ideal line and length to get results,
There’s no leeway if you get it wrong with line or length.
It’s too small a strip to be an avenue of apprehension or a corridor of uncertainty.
I need a new name for this razor-thin line. Drop your suggestions in the comments below and I’ll use the best one during commentary on Seven on day three.
At least the West Indies openers put up a fight to be 0-74 at stumps, which is what you need when Australia declared at 4-598.
Steve Smith of Australia celebrates reaching a century. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite looked comfortable with their check-driving straight down the ground.
We knew coming into this series opener that these two can bat time, they value their wicket and you have to bowl a good ball to get them out.
They’re both small in stature and go back in the crease. They don’t want to come forward to the ball so you can bowl a yard or two fuller.
Will Windies middle order be as disciplined? That’s the key to their chances.
Pat Cummins will need to rotate the quicks often and by the end of day three we will know if the Aussies can capitalise late in the Test to take the 20 wickets required.
It hasn’t been too hot over here in the West so the pitch won’t get baked – there’s plenty of hard work ahead for the bowling attack because there’s not going to be much spin.
Nathan Lyon can work his angles but he won’t get too much assistance off the wicket.
A green monster it is definitely not – sometimes looks can be deceiving.
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