Steve Smith continues to set the standard for test matches. Photo: Getty Images/Ian Kington
With an orthodox cover drive, Stephen Smith, the most unorthodox batsman, reached his 32nd Test 100 on the second day of the Trial of the Lord. This is his eighth century in England. Of all the tourists, Sir Donald Bradman alone has scored more than centuries of trials here.
With a shovel through the center gate and a couple of squeezes or squirts to the third-man boundary, Smith moved to 99 before reaching his landmark and celebrating with another change of baseball gloves from his trash bag in front of Lord's Pavilion. And all the time he led this match and series towards the southern hemisphere.
Even the most staunch supporters of England, however, admit that it is difficult to hate Smith personally — no matter what happens under his auspices. during the Sandpapergate scandal. He's gorgeous obsessed; no one else has turned an innings into a pantomime of Jacques Tati. England is new to baseball, but Smith has been playing Oddball for over a decade.
One or two batsmen had similarly elaborate routines before the ball was served, going through their ritual of superstition. One of them was the highest-scoring batsman in any championship season, Phil Meade of Hampshire, who scored nearly 3,000 points in 1928. took four shuffling steps to get into position. Imagine sticking with this routine when your late overage incurs penalties.
Smith, of course, goes much further than Meade or any other mortal. The twitching of his pillows and the rest of his equipment, the twitching and playing with the ball is just a prelude to his theatricality.
Imagine a pianist who, after playing an exquisite chord, turns to the conductor and repeats the movements of his baton. As aesthetically pleasing as Smith's performance is, he distracts his audience and prevents us from fully appreciating him, leaving instead to marvel at his thinking.
Being obsessive, Smith feels compelled to immediately inform the bowler of the type of ball he just threw. If he scores an inswinger or a kick, Smith plays a gloved right hand serve. This gesture may be designed in part for the benefit of his non-hitter batting partner to keep him informed. In many ways, one suspects Smith does this because she can't resist her momentum.
Steve Smith's unorthodox technique didn't stop him from reaching the top of the game. Photo: PA Wire/Adam Davy
If the average person acted out this post-ball theatrical performance, they would be accused of taking mickey and the fielders would give him tons of money, but there is a childlike innocence to Smith's obsession, devoid of cunning. Perhaps it's for the best that Smith now rarely performs a leg spin in his youth: after each pitch, he can replicate the shot the batsman should have played, in addition to the ball he just delivered.
< p>So it's a relief when Smith makes a hit that goes for a run. Then there is no time for reconstruction; he needs to put on skates. But somehow he manages not to run between the wickets like other batsmen, but like a rag doll.
He should certainly be rated as the best batsman in Australia, aside from Sir Donald Bradman. Ricky Ponting put on one horror show against Indian spinners, Greg Chappell against fast bowlers from the West Indies. Smith twitches, fidgets and scores against all the bowlers in Test cricket — and that's just in his hotel room before stepping up to the crease. what Smith wants to do in England is never, for him, put his front foot on the field and make a sharp kick with the risk of the ball going off the grass first, except when he kicks with his tail and is forced to drop the bat when he did here. Otherwise, the ball must be full to tempt him forward, and such is his self-control and such a disciplined game plan for every opportunity that he resists temptation. limits aesthetics: there is no front elbow leading it into cover — drive and trouble. Of the 10 people who have scored more Test centuries, only Sir Alastair Cooke has been as obnoxious as Smith among all the cricket Smiths, and since he averages 79 there, he is also Lord Lord.
Most Tests centuries in England by foreign cricketers
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