The Steven Smith Question

[Slifer]

Steve Smith has as many hundreds as Viv Richards in pretty much half the tests. That's absurd!!!!

 

[CricAddict]

Have got a new found respect for Steve Smith though I liked him before as well.

To score a century in your comeback test after a horrible phase is one thing. To do it against all odds, with so much booing and negativity going around, your own batsmen failing all around you and opposition bowlers on top on their home ground is another thing. Respect!

Clearly above Kohli, Kane and Joe as number one batsman in the world for me.

 

[h_hurricane]

About time Smith enters into the discussion of the top dozen batsmen ever. Bradman, Sobers, Richards, Tendulkar, Lara, Hobbs, Hutton,Hammond,Gavaskar,Chappell,Smith and Ponting for me.

 

[CricAddict]

About time Smith enters into the discussion of the top dozen batsmen ever. Bradman, Sobers, Richards, Tendulkar, Lara, Hobbs, Hutton,Hammond,Gavaskar,Chappell,Smith and Ponting for me.

Is he comfortably in Australia's ATG XI now? Since Bradman, Chappell and Ponting are there already, he will have to displace AB/Steve Waugh/any other in the middle order. I will put him there but not sure if everyone will do.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Is he comfortably in Australia's ATG XI now? Since Bradman, Chappell and Ponting are there already, he will have to displace AB/Steve Waugh/any other in the middle order. I will put him there but not sure if everyone will do.

of course he is. 2nd picked.

 

[SteveNZ]

And the booing of Smith is ill informed and pretty village, as they'd say in that part of the world. Hes not deserving of it.

Warner, different story. I bet Bancroft got a quiet satisfaction out of not telling him to refer one going down

 

[Burgey]

Is he comfortably in Australia's ATG XI now? Since Bradman, Chappell and Ponting are there already, he will have to displace AB/Steve Waugh/any other in the middle order. I will put him there but not sure if everyone will do.

I would replace Chappell with him tbh. GC picked and chose a lot of tours. Great player, and awesome to watch, but TPC gets it done everywhere, agaisnt everyone.

I will be lampooned for this, but I have Smith 2nd AT as an Australian batsman as things stand atm. Ahead of Ponting, Chappell, Waugh and even, date I say, TOTAB. What I will say though, is the only Australian batsman I can recall before TPC who basically bent everyone over in every test country was Border. His away average was like 15 points or so higher than at home. That **** counts. But Smith has done a Border at another level. Just an insane player.

 

[cnerd123]

I'm still waiting for Smith's career to end before passing judgement

We always praise players at the peak of their powers to no end, but then eventually lower our rating of them once they go through the inevitable end of career decline

I'd put my money on Smith playing another 5 years and still ending with a career average over 60 tho. The man's mental strength is something else. This must have been what it felt like watching Bradman bat, in a sense.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Best bat I have seen in my lifetime and you wonder like when Steve Waugh was in how the hell you are going to get him out once he passes 20 as he just doesn't give it away. People like Ponting, Lara and Tendulkar have to bow down to his greatness he is that good.

Cheating **** though and that can never be forgotten.

 

[Burgey]

Has anyone here seen another batsman who you can so easily see just how he's thinking in terms of getting balls into gaps? I'm sure it's an illusion or maybe it's just that exaggerated style of his, but it's like sometimes he's in slow motion and as the ball is getting to him, you can see him change the angle of his wrists and the bat.

I guess an example of it was maybe his second or third scoring shot yesterday where he took Broad (iirc) through backward point away from his body, and you could actually see the angle he was working with his wrists as he played the shot.

He's also the only batsman I've ever seen, at any level let alone the top one, who has deliberately played the draw shot.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Possibly the most selfless batsman in history as well. Does it all for the team, doesn't throw it away when wickets are falling around him, has a slog at the end and it wouldn't surprise me if a fair chunk of his Test dismissals were slogging with the tail or declaration batting.

More so though because of the huge fall he took just over a year ago for the actions of 2 idiots, even though he did very little wrong himself. As a result he's lost millions, a year of his career and had his name dragged through the mud undeservedly. The word hero is well and truly applicable.

 

[StephenZA]

Possibly the most selfless batsman in history as well. Does it all for the team, doesn't throw it away when wickets are falling around him, has a slog at the end and it wouldn't surprise me if a fair chunk of his Test dismissals were slogging with the tail or declaration batting.

More so though because of the huge fall he took just over a year ago for the actions of 2 idiots, even though he did very little wrong himself. As a result he's lost millions, a year of his career and had his name dragged through the mud undeservedly. The word hero is well and truly applicable.

He ****ed up big time... the fact he knew about it before hand and did not squash it immediately as the captain is telling. Followed by an attempt contrite excuse of sticky tape etc. He did not deserve the ban he got, but us a leader and captain he failed miserably in that instance.

 

[StephenZA]

I never got an opportunity to watch him bat yesterday, which was disappointing. Only saw highlights but he looked to be in vintage Smith form. I actually love watching him bat feels like he has so much time.

 

[TheJediBrah]

He ****ed up big time... the fact he knew about it before hand and did not squash it immediately as the captain is telling. Followed by an attempt contrite excuse of sticky tape etc. He did not deserve the ban he got, but us a leader and captain he failed miserably in that instance.

That's why I said "very little wrong" rather than "nothing wrong". Even recently other captains Faf du Plessis & Dinesh Chandimal have done much worse and they will never have the same stigma attached to them.

 

[StephenZA]

That's why I said "very little wrong" rather than "nothing wrong". Even recently other captains Faf du Plessis & Dinesh Chandimal have done much worse and they will never have the same stigma attached to them.

It was not little...

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'm still waiting for Smith's career to end before passing judgement

We always praise players at the peak of their powers to no end, but then eventually lower our rating of them once they go through the inevitable end of career decline

This is true but the longer his purple patch goes on, the more convincing it'll be that this isn't really a purple patch, it's just his normal level.

I always judge careers in their entirety when it comes to cricketers, so I've seen plenty of batsmen have what I consider better careers than Smith. But Ive never seen anyone have a stretch like this where runscoring was so routine. Privilege to watch, and it's the first time since Tendulkar and Lara that I genuinely believe I'm watching a best after Bradman contender. Continue this ridiculousness for a few more years, and Sachin/Lara etc can all kiss goodbye to ever being mentioned in that conversation.

 

[vcs]

He's great obviously and his legacy is set in stone no matter what happens from here on in, but as I mentioned in another thread, just a bit premature to say he's the best since Bradman. Ponting also had a ridiculous purple patch and averaged 60 after 105 Tests.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It was not little...

It absolutely was, relatively speaking. Much less than Warner and Bancroft, or Faf & Chandimal. A years ban and the destruction of his reputation among the uninformed as punishment was insane. It would be like sentencing a man and his entire extended family to death for failing to stop at a Stop sign when everyone else gets a $50 fine.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pretty sure Tendulkar had a stretch of 150 odd tests where he averaged 60.

It's impossible to quantify but there's a sense of crushing inevitability to Smith's runs that I never ever got from any batsman I've watched. It's actually bonkers that he averages 62 and it's still rising.

 

[Starfighter]

til 58 = 60