Key to his batting has been his innate ability to solve problems posed by opponents and conditions, and so it was at the MCG
Daniel Brettig in Melbourne26-Dec-20191:11
‘I enjoyed the red ball coming back’ – Smith
With scores of 4, 36, 43 and 16 entering the MCG Test, Steven Smith has been having the sort of summer familiar to most Australian retailers in the nation’s increasingly congealed economy: just ticking over, facing new challenges, and hoping for an upward curve to begin on Boxing Day.Fortunately for Smith, he does not have to rely on as many variables as those hoping for increased spending on their wares, for the main factor in his batting has always been his own self-contained ability to solve the problems being posed by opponents and conditions.The result, on an MCG pitch that was moist enough to offer sideways movement and some variable bounce, but firm enough to avoid the embarrassing abandonment of the last Sheffield Shield game played here before the Test, was the absorbing sight of Smith calculating his way through New Zealand’s short-and-wide approach to him, often with a 6-3 leg side field that forced a good degree of abstemious behaviour when it came to the pull shot.This in itself has made for fascinating viewing in contrast to the Ashes in England, where the Dukes ball and lively pitches gave the likes of Stuart Broad plenty of natural advantages over Smith only to see him turn those around with a masterly handling of bowling that had the measure of so many of his more orthodox batting team-mates. In Australia, New Zealand have had far less to work with, but their persistence has tested Smith, and driven his series strike rate down to a soporific 35.41 runs per 100 balls.”It’s a bit different, it takes a lot of patience, just the way they set the field up there’s not a whole lot you can do, and it’s risky to play the pull shot with the field they’ve got set, particularly off the wrong length” Smith said. “I thought I played that well today, I pulled off the right lengths, got out of the way of a few, copped a few. I thought I played it pretty well today. It’s just different the way that the field’s set, you can’t really score, and taking it on is a big risk. So just a patience game and wear them down.”I replay all the time when I get out and try and figure out what I did wrong, what I didn’t do wrong. Sometimes you get a good ball and there’s not much you can do. But the majority of the time you get yourself out. The best players around the world are those that make the best decisions more often than not. So for me it’s trying to learn as much as I can on the job. I’ve been faced with something a little bit different in this series, with the fields that are set and the way they’ve gone about it, and I was happy today with the way I was able to get through it and score some runs.”Obviously Wagner’s got a serious tank, he carries on and just keeps on doing it, but at some point hopefully he’s going to get a bit tired. I just keep trusting my instincts, getting out of the way when I can and playing the pull shot when the length is right.”Steven Smith pulls behind square•Getty ImagesThere was one instance, shortly before lunch, when Smith’s reluctance to play the pull shot and New Zealand’s eagerness to pitch short brought something of a flashpoint, as the umpire Nigel Llong twice denied Smith leg byes by deciding he had not made an effort to avoid deliveries that struck him on the body. There was remonstration from Smith at the time, and discussion as players and officials walked off for the interval, for he felt he had made more effort to get out of the way than the combative Matthew Wade had done in Perth.On a day where David Warner was roundly booed when dismissed and many New Zealand supporters took after England in brandishing sandpaper-related paraphernalia, the irony of Smith querying the laws and their spirit with the umpires was notable, but he was also quick to avoid letting things spiral. “I was just asking the question – I don’t think I’m as mad as Wadey is, last game trying to let them hit him, I was trying to get out of the way of them,” Smith said. “It’s his [the umpire’s] interpretation and I’ve got to back that. I’ll just keep playing and I don’t want to get stuck into anything. His interpretation and fair enough, move on.”For Trent Boult, who made his entry by swinging the new ball through Joe Burns as the opener pushed rather too hard at his very first delivery, the contest with Smith was a test of wits and patience as much as of brawn. “From my point of view he obviously wants to feel bat on ball and keep the score ticking along,” Boult said. “If you can keep him on strike then I’m sure that’s one way to keep him frustrated, but when he leaves well, defends well and plays quite straight, then he doesn’t give you too much.”I thought he played really well. He looked to defend as many balls as he could and hung in there and he’s built himself a nice little innings, but he’s a quality player. When the balls tends to not shape and swing too much in the air you kind of resort to other things and the wicket has turned into a very good wicket, and I think it’s about being patient, and whatever plan we’re trying to execute if we keep that pressure on then hopefully we can draw an error out of him.”
“I think it’s about being patient, and whatever plan we’re trying to execute if we keep that pressure on then hopefully we can draw an error out of him [Smith]”Trent Boult
That error has yet to take place, and with Travis Head alongside him, Smith was able to go to stumps within sight of a first Test century on home soil since January 2018. He also had been given a sighter of what may turn out to be the path for Australia to secure a Test and series victory on what may become an otherwise docile surface – a patch of turf offering bounce uneven enough to draw a drag-on from Marnus Labuschagne and the odd miscue from Smith himself.”There’s a patch at the [Great Southern Stand] end, I was stepping it out, probably four to five and a half metre length, where balls were kind of taking off a bit. We saw Marnus’ dismissal, that was a ball that would normally come through at waist height and it sort of bounced a bit more and caught his elbow,” Smith said. “Another one [from that patch] a couple balls before that the keeper took above his head.”So it felt like there was a patch there of about a metre and a half – I drove one down the ground late in the day that I have no idea how the ball went in the air, it felt like it just stopped in the wicket. It wasn’t easy and there’s a patch there that if our bowlers, particularly with our height, can hit that consistently, I think when we get our chance to bowl, that could be a handful.”Before that, Smith has plenty more runs he wishes to churn out, catching up on the rich batting days he missed out upon earlier in the summer. Should he do so, New Zealand may end up looking like so many frazzled Boxing Day retail staff, eager less for the ample working hours than some relief from them.
