On This Day, 10 Years Ago: Steve Smith Wears The Baggy Green For The First Time

If there was a career of massive turnarounds headlined by twists and turns, Steve Smith undeniably occupies the top spot. On this very day ten years ago, Steve Smith donned the Baggy Green for the first time against Pakistan, awarded by his captain Ricky Ponting at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground. At present, Smith has reached the top of the tree with 7000 runs and boasting of an average of 62.80, which every Test batsman aspires to achieve.

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On the other hand, in these ten years, he has witnessed some darkest days and bounced back from those. And like many other run-machines in Test cricket, the former Australian captain scored only 1 and 12 in his two innings while batting at number eight in debut. Yet, as he came as a replacement for the enigmatic and pioneer Shane Warne, Smith dismissed Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal, and Umar Gul with his leg-spin.

However, with the likes of Ponting, Marcus North struggling and the lack of potent middle-order batsmen in their ranks, Steve Smith kept rising through the ranks. It was not before his innings of 92 against India in Mohali 2013 that Smith began to get the nod frequently within the Test side. And after five months, the New South Wales batsman made his first of his 26 Test centuries at the Oval against England.

Steve Smith played an instrumental role in Australia’s Ashes reclaiming later that year at home as well as their series victory in South Africa. The 31-year old became a nemesis for India as he churned a tally of 769 runs across four Tests during their visit in late 2014 while also captaining Australia in three Tests.

Steve Smith climbs to the top for the first time:

It was after the West Indies tour of 2015 in the second Test that Smith left behind the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Ab de Villiers to ascend to the top of the rankings for the first time. He became the second-youngest player after Sachin Tendulkar to top the Test batting rankings. In the second and the final Test at Kingston, Smith missed out on his first double-century by one run but scored an unbeaten 54 in the second innings.

Lead by Michael Clarke, Australia travelled to England in a bid to defend the Ashes successfully for the first time since 2001. Smith’s best efforts, including a double-century at the Lord’s, was not enough in preventing a series loss. The tour signalled the end of the careers for Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin which saw Steve Smith ascend to the throne as the permanent captaincy.

Steve Smith topped the run-scoring chart in 2015 while remained amongst those in 2016 while his compatriot David Warner touched the summit that year. In 2017, Smith travelled to India as the captain to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Perhaps, it was going to be his biggest captaincy test and considering Australia’s sweep in Sri Lanka a year go; few backed them to even compete against Virat Kohli’s men.

While the tourists could not win despite their best efforts, Smith was the best batsmen across the series from both the sides. Cheteshwar Pujara’s 405 runs were the closest to Smith’s 499 at a stunning average of 71.28 with three centuries on vastly unhelpful decks for batting. However, his other men could not put their best foot forward, resulting in their defeat by 2-1 in the four-match rubber.

Despite Smith’s fluctuating limited-overs performances, he remained near untouchable in Test cricket. Later in 2017, England sans Ben Stokes travelled down under to defend the Ashes urn against the favourites. The captain was again amongst the runs as his hundred in Brisbane rescued Australia and enabled them to a slender lead. Joe Root’s men could hardly put up a fight good enough against Australia to win a single Test and ended up losing 4-0. The Australian captain won the Compton-Miller Medal for amassing 687 runs in five Tests.

The conspiracy of Cape Town:

Steve Smith took a break from the T20I tri-series involving England and New Zealand, which Australia won convincingly under Warner. He got the much-needed break ahead of the high-profile South African tour from where the nadir began. An ugly spat transpired between Warner and Quinton de Kock following Australia’s win in the first Test at Durban, which flagged that the series could turn out to be acrimonious moving forward.

And it most certainly did. As the number one Test batsman, Smith could not only get the runs but also failed from bringing the Baggy Green Cap in disrepute. During the third Test in Cape Town, as the tourists found themselves behind the game, Warner masterminded a plan along with Cameron Bancroft to use sandpaper to rough the ball to gain reverse swing. While Smith did not side with them, he knew the idea and did not stop it from taking place.

While on the field, the cameras caught Bancroft rubbing the ball and burying the sandpaper in his trousers. At the press conference after the day’s play, Smith confessed along with the opening batsman their action of tampering with the ball to gain an advantage. While all two players remained part of the game, Smith and Warner were stripped of their leadership duties, getting a match-ban and keeper Tim Paine took over as captain, who also made his Test debut alongside Smith.

Australia surrendered the four-match Test series to the Proteas by 3-1, resulting in their first loss in South Africa since the hosts’ readmission to international cricket. On the March 28th of 2018, all three players received severe sanctions from Cricket Australia. They banned Smith and Warner from all cricket for one year while the former could not captain Australia for one year after his prohibition ends.

On the other hand, Warner would not lead the team at all. It also brought an end of Darren Lehmann as the coach as Justin Langer took over the reins. While his and David Warner’s ban continued, Australia suffered a string of forgettable losses overseas as well at home, including their first Test series loss at home to India. Their batting line-up looked downright crippled in the absence of their two best batsmen.

Rise to the peak of powers again:

Steve Smith took part in grade and club cricket to keep himself up and running while an elbow injury in Bangladesh Premier League put his 2019 World Cup chances under doubt. But he played the World Cup and the IPL before that, gradually returning to form and complete his reintegration into the national team.

But he batted as a man possessed during the 2019 Ashes. Warner, Bancroft, and Smith all found places to compete in England in front of a belligerent crowd, but it was only Smith, who could win them over. The Barmy Army gave him a hostile reception in Edgbaston when he walked out to bat as Warner and Bancroft departed cheaply. Wickets kept tumbling through, yet Smith kept his concentration up and ushered the tourists to a respectable 284 from 122-8, courtesy his 24th Test hundred.

He scored another in the second innings as Australia demolished England by 251 runs. England went on to include paceman Jofra Archer in the second Test for James Anderson for the second Test at Lord’s. While Smith bravely faced Archer, it was not before an unforgiving bouncer put him down. He walked while battling at 84 but returned later to smack two boundaries before disorientation got the better of him for 92 eventually.

Australia somehow held out the Test for a draw as Smith’s concussion substitute, Marnus Labuschagne, played his role to perfection. The concussion kept him out of the third Test in Leeds where England square the series, thanks to Ben Stokes’ heist.

Smith could not be kept away from the fourth Test in Manchester as he slammed a double hundred in the first innings and a quickfire 80 in the second to make Australia retain the urn. Australia lost the last Test, but the objective was complete for Paine, which was to come to England and keep the Ashes.

For Smith’s 774 runs and Stokes’ all-round display, they shared the Compton-Miller Medal. In comparison, Steve Smith has remained far from a batsman, who is beautiful to watch. However, his unorthodox technique, his unimaginable mental strength, use of the crease and outstanding foot-work has allowed him to reach the heights, which he truly deserves.

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