absorbed the bullets, yet got none of the plaudits compared to the headlining ways of Warner, Marsh and in particular Johnson.
Throughout his first 18 test matches, Smith has been dropped, slated for his apparent poor numbers at both test and first class level, and accused of being in the Australian team only because his birth certificate indicates New South Wales as a birthplace. What is long forgotten is the rather inglorious starts of other careers, specifically the last 3 men to captain the country. Steve Waugh's troubles early in his career are well documented, but after 18 test matches, Smith had both twice as many centuries, and a better average than both of Ricky Ponting
and Michael Clarke, arguably. Certainly in Clarke's case, without walking into a team top heavy with all time talent, showing him the way.
Smith, has along with another of his generation Phil Hughes, been painted harshly with the brush of the purist. He looks ungainly, so it can't possibly be successful. His numbers suggest otherwise. Smith, Hughes and the third amigo, David Warner all average over 44 at first class level. In comparison Shaun Marsh averages just 35, Michael Klinger and George Bailey both are a tick over 37, and Australia's latest debutant Alex Doolan's is 38. At the end of the 2009-2010 Sheffield Shield season, Smith's average was over 50, at a time when wickets around the country were criticised for being too bowler friendly. After four Test Centuries the Oval, WACA, SCG and Centurion, four cricket wickets, literally worlds apart, he is still frowned upon for being unfashionable and unable to adapt.
Still just 24, Smith is front and centre of the first generation that have to tackle and manage playing three formats of cricket at once. A blueprint for the modern cricketer, three dimensional in every sense, brilliant with bat in hand, eye catching in the field, and more than capable of wickets with his leg spin (Smith was the leading wicket taker in the 2008 Domestic T20 Tournament) Smith should be a
poster boy for Twenty20. Shunted into relative obscurity by Warner's show stealing antics in coloured clothes formats. Smith has led the Sydney Sixers brilliantly, not only to the Big Bash League title in 2012, but in 2013 when he was available. He possesses not only a T20 strike rate of 119 but every shot in the book, yet in test matches he slips back under the mask of the purist and strikes at 50 runs per 100 balls faced, showing the patience and mindset many of his generation either can't understand or don't have an interest in.
Whilst most of the country is still in the dark ages of "handing out a baggy green with a New South Wales cap", many choose to forget that many a player from that state have been booted out the door with equal haste, think Katich, Jaques, Khawaja and Hughes (on more than one occasion) to name a recent few. Smith was in the Australian team, in all three formats at the age of 21. Either a silver spooner, a blatant error of judgment, or reward or a sign of a serious talent. Surely the latter.
With a picture no clearer on leadership than it was when Shane Watson and co. didn't do their homework in Mohali, who is going to lead Australia after Michael Clarke becomes a real hand grenade for Cricket Australia and Darren Lehmann. Clarke is 32, which on the surface suggests 4 or
5 more years at the top, but as Graeme Smith showed recently, cricket is a tough game. The former South African captain is just 33. When one wheel falls off at the highest level, the other 3 follow it off the cliff awfully quickly. So hypothetically, were Clarke to hand over the reigns after the 2015 Ashes series, at 34, who are the candidates to take Australia forward?
For obvious reasons, no one can predict an international cricket side, so far ahead of time. For any number of reasons, you could assume all of Haddin, Johnson, Rogers, Watson and Harris won't be there. Only Michael Clarke and Johnson would be safe to bet on seeing out the 2014-15 season. Fast bowlers don't work as captains unless you're Wasim Akram or Courtney Walsh, so most of the young Australian brigade can be ruled out. Matthew Wade was supposedly groomed as a leader and future captain, but he has fallen back in the pecking order after a poor first class and Big Bash season, behind Tim Paine and possibly Sam Whiteman, who is both younger than Wade and currently averaging over 55 in the Sheffield Shield.
That leaves two candidates, Warner and Smith. Two players, who Michael Clarke has already pointed to as leaders on the field. Given Smith's experience and mature mindset both in batting and in front of the media, weighted against the bash and crash nature of Warner, not only with bat in hand but with a sharp tongue and occasionally fist, one can only assume they have already narrowed the choice down to one.
Those who accept the cricket landscape is changing by throwing their support behind Twenty20 and KFC, need to realise that the test match landscape is changing just as rapidly. For nigh on 20 years, our national team was the better of any team in history, bar the West Indies of the 1980s and Bradman's Invinvibles. Batsman averaging 55 was the staple, even the wicketkeeper averaged over 60 for a time. Michael Hussey had the cheek to get his above 80. Smith and Warner's low 40s averages, are being frowned upon, when they should actually be accepted, and praised, given their age and the opposition they are fronting up to.
Smith might not have the will power of Allan Border, or the attitude of Ponting, or the brutal mind games and bloody minded drive of Steve Waugh, but on the evidence shown so far, he is more than willing to jump into the heat of the battle and wear the oncoming bullets.
They'll need to accept that when not representing his country, Steve Smith might attempt to paddle sweep a full toss and be clean bowled, as he was at the SCG earlier this year. They'll need to accept that consistency can't be expected like it used to be when players are juggling three formats, and the various pressures that come with it. They'll need to accept Smith is not going to put his name to a coaching manual anytime soon, but like Bubba Watson slicing and hooking on the golf course, or Josh Kennedy stuttering towards goal for the West Coast Eagles, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Why do they have to accept it? Because Steve Smith might not be the first Smith to play for Australia, or the first Smith to be a captain, what he will be is the 45th Test Captain of Australia. We can only hope he'll be more successful than Captain Edward Smith on board the RMS Titanic.
"When the team was armourless, Smith had absorbed the bullets, yet got none of the plaudits compared to the headlining ways of Warner, Marsh and in particular Johnson."
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