When Steve Smith was caught behind down the leg side for just two during the Adelaide Test he couldn’t believe his rotten luck.
But was it rotten luck, or another sign that a batter recently dubbed Australia’s best since Bradman was, at 35 and a half, struggling to outrun father time?
With 165 not out in the 2016 Boxing Day Test Smith’s average began a steady journey into the 60s, peaking at almost 65 with his extraordinary Ashes series in 2019, 774 runs in four Tests at an average of 110.57.
It was still hovering around 60 when he made 110 during the second Test at Lord’s during June last year. Smith hasn’t made a hundred in 12 Tests since and has a top score of 17 from his last six innings.
In fairness to Smith he could claim one of his best innings during that time was an unbeaten 91 opening the batting in the second innings against the West Indies in Brisbane late last season.
Smith stood resolute as second Test rookie Sharmar Joseph carved through Australia’s unreliable batting order, claiming 7-68. Australia lost by eight runs, giving the West Indies their first victory in Australia for almost 27 years and leveling the series one all.
But that has been a beacon in recent gloom. His 91 not out was the only time he has reached 50 in his past 13 innings going back almost a year.
After his most recent failed leg glance Smith’s average is now 56.09, the lowest it has been since he was on the rise during November 2015.
It was during 2014-2015 that Smith laid bare the extent of his remarkable talent, scoring a century in all four Tests against India, rewriting the record for the most runs during an India-Australia Test series – 769 at an average of 128.
“That was a long time ago now but I remember it pretty fondly,” Smith said recently. “It was probably the best I’ve ever batted I reckon, in terms of just being comfortable with my game, the mental side. I was hitting the ball really nicely, I was in a good place.”
Steve Smith of Australia makes his way out to bat at Sydney Cricket Ground. (Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
This is a remarkable observation. His overall average jumped from 46 to 52 during that series and has been somewhere in the stratosphere ever since, yet for the next nine years he never felt he batted as well as he had during that Indian summer.
Despite his almost nine-run average drop since the 2019 Ashes Smith’s current 56.09 remains second only to Bradman amongst Australians who have played more than 20 Tests.
If he had kept his average above 60 Smith would have remained in one of cricket’s most exclusive clubs from anyone who had played 25 Tests or more. It’s only members are Bradman, of course, with 99.94, and England’s Bert Sutcliffe, 60.73.
Smith claims that pitches have become more bowler friendly in recent years and the Kookabuura ball has a more pronounced seam, an argument with some validity. But the only significant change to his record at Australian venues has been in Adelaide following the advent of day/night Test cricket.
He averages in the 70s at the MCG and SCG, 60s at Perth Stadium and the WACA, and almost 55 at the Gabba. In Adelaide he averaged an incredible 243 with three successive not outs, including 162.
But since the arrival of day/night Test cricket, against New Zealand in November 2015, his average is now 43.37. The outlier is Hobart, where he averages just 29 from three Tests, including a day-night match.
Smith’s strike rate may also give an indication of either how hard runs are in the conditions, or how hard they are becoming the longer he plays.
Of the 73 times he has reached 50, 20 of the fastest 21 of those innings were at least five years ago.
This also highlights that since his domination of the Ashes in 2019 bowlers have delivered the ball a lot tighter into his body, just like the ball which he tickled in Adelaide. He no longer gets the space outside the off stump to flow freely or length balls on his stumps to flick through the leg side.
That exaggerated walk across his stumps to take the ball wide of mid-on has gone from a strength to a weakness. He dared bowlers to try and trap him lbw and now they are. This year four of Smith’s last eight dismissals have been lbw, including three in a row.
When Jasprit Bumrah brought up that trifecta, crashing into Smith’s pads with the first ball he faced of the Test summer in Perth, Smith significantly changed his game. He has stopped walking across his stumps, taking a more orthodox approach to batting.
Unfortunately he’s been caught behind down the off and leg sides during his next two innings.
Bradman very publicly observed he was not the player he had been when he led Australia on the 1948 Invincibles tours at the age of 39. He still averaged better than 72 during the Test series.
Smith is not Bradman but he may be Australia’s best since. We may have seen the best of him but history suggests he still has plenty to give. There’s certainly no young Steve Smith knocking down the door in the Sheffield Shield.