Where does Steve Smith rate?

[RookiePick]

Um, because he started his career at #6.

His average as an opener is over 50 and he hit over 8000 runs.

Got any other queries?

My school explained the concept of a batting order

Every summer, in almost every cricket thread.

It's actually amazing.



Why can't they resist? Why aren't there warning signs?

 

[cricketnut14]

His Average peaked at around 60 after he made the twin hundreds in his 100th test IIRC. Didn't hold a 60+ average for as long as Smith has.
I still have Ponting slightly ahead of Smith for now though

yeah ponting was averaging 60 after 107 tests.

will be interesting to see where smith sits at the same stage.



if smith can play the next 3 years and finish with the ashes in australia, he'll be 36, almost 37.

so if he plays basically every test until then , he'll be at 120 odd tests.

even being conservative he should have:
batting ave 55-57 (2nd best aussie to bradman)
will be touch and go if he has surpassed s.waugh and borders run tally (2nd to ponting)
will be 1st or 2nd - ponting (most catches by an aussie)
5 more test tons and will be 2nd to ponting

by that stage there will be no argument that smith sits on the second tier , behind bradman and at a minimum alongside ponting and chappell.

 

[big_e]

His Average peaked at around 60 after he made the twin hundreds in his 100th test IIRC. Didn't hold a 60+ average for as long as Smith has.
I still have Ponting slightly ahead of Smith for now though

Ponting's average was 96, 83.5 and 48.25 after each of his first three tests, and was above 60 for three days, in the middle of his 107th test. A 142 in the first innings got him over 60, but after a second innings 49, it dropped to 59.99.

 

[Seedsfan]

I would say conditions are hard for an opener in NZ but get very comfortable if they get in as the ball stops seaming and swinging. I would say similar about England. South Africa has the added bounce and pace as well as the sideways movement so as a general rule I would nominate their conditions as being tougher again. Smith made runs everywhere bar India where he averaged 35 and he averaged 39.8 in Australia where he still made runs - that average jumps to 42 if you remove an innings where he batted one handed to save a game. At any rate it’s not especially relevant to an Australian discussion and yes for what it’s worth I would put Hayden in the mix for an all time Australian team but I would look beyond just his 8000 at 50 to do it and even then might have players like Simpson and Lawry, Morris, Ponsford, Langer etc all in the mix.

South Africa also uses the Kookaburra ball so goes soft and does nothing quicker.

I loved the South African team of that era, Smith, AB and Kalis. Kalis was the first all rounder I really saw and I was so amazed he could bowl and bat.

All this discussion has really done is make me disappointed about the state of South African cricket now. We can’t afford to lose them as a super power.

West Indies are sadly no longer, Pakistan and Sr Lanka struggle for competitiveness it’s only NZ that is progressing as a side at the moment

 

[PhatBoy]

South Africa also uses the Kookaburra ball so goes soft and does nothing quicker.

I loved the South African team of that era, Smith, AB and Kalis. Kalis was the first all rounder I really saw and I was so amazed he could bowl and bat.

All this discussion has really done is make me disappointed about the state of South African cricket now. We can’t afford to lose them as a super power.

West Indies are sadly no longer, Pakistan and Sr Lanka struggle for competitiveness it’s only NZ that is progressing as a side at the moment

South Africa will rise again. Their pace bowling ensures that they stay somewhere in the mix. Their policy on selection has compromised the team at stages but it seems to be producing in the bowling department at least and I’m confident if they actually start playing more regularly that they will find their feet with the bat.

They have arguably never faced challenges like they do at the moment but aside from Australia who have generally never strayed too far from the top 3 nations in test cricket in my time following it, the other constant over that 32 years has been SA albeit without as much time at the absolute summit.

They’re still too 2 in the WTC too don’t forget so I give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being at least

 

[BGman]

South Africa also uses the Kookaburra ball so goes soft and does nothing quicker.

I loved the South African team of that era, Smith, AB and Kalis. Kalis was the first all rounder I really saw and I was so amazed he could bowl and bat.

All this discussion has really done is make me disappointed about the state of South African cricket now. We can’t afford to lose them as a super power.

West Indies are sadly no longer, Pakistan and Sr Lanka struggle for competitiveness it’s only NZ that is progressing as a side at the moment

I will have my say on the great Steven Peter Devereux Smith. With a rather hoity toity middle name like Devereux having Smith as a surname and a nickname of 'smudge' seems out of place.

We can now hand Steven the prefix of great as that is what he has been over the past decade and without his master batsmanship the Australian cricket team would have lost more series and any invincibility it may have held. Numerous times between 2014-18 Smith dug the Baggy Greens out of seemingly insurmountable trouble almost single handedly.
Then after a year out of the game, with the Australian team still reeling from 'sandpapergate' and his own reputation in tatters Smith silenced the critics by turning the 2019 Ashes into his very own killing ground and won us a rare series draw against the old enemy on their soil. He'd have led us to a win had it not been for Stokes brutal late batting at Headingley.
Many in the know rate Smiths performance the best in Ashes history given his total contribution in proportion to the overall series team score.

The other four greats, Greg Chappell, Alan Border, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh no doubt all played similar series over their careers but did they do it virtually on their own. Did their contribution alone win their team a series. Many will say no as there were other fine batsmen contributing to the series outcome. I suppose Captain Cranky's exploits against the great Windies attacks of the time comes closest.

I rate Steven Peter Devereux Smith our best Test batsman behind the incomparable Donald George Bradman.

 

[The 747]

South Africa also uses the Kookaburra ball so goes soft and does nothing quicker.

I loved the South African team of that era, Smith, AB and Kalis. Kalis was the first all rounder I really saw and I was so amazed he could bowl and bat.

All this discussion has really done is make me disappointed about the state of South African cricket now. We can’t afford to lose them as a super power.

West Indies are sadly no longer, Pakistan and Sr Lanka struggle for competitiveness it’s only NZ that is progressing as a side at the moment

We just won a competitive series with Pakistan and we just drew a series with Sri Lanka.

 

[frankrizzo]

Pakistan were actually doing ok till they came home and started playing on these horrible decks, the uae pitches suited them lot better and their record was just fine there.

 

[Seedsfan]

We just won a competitive series with Pakistan and we just drew a series with Sri Lanka.

Look, I probably overstated their woes a bit. But they don’t have the world class talent that the use to.

 

[Seedsfan]

South Africa will rise again. Their pace bowling ensures that they stay somewhere in the mix. Their policy on selection has compromised the team at stages but it seems to be producing in the bowling department at least and I’m confident if they actually start playing more regularly that they will find their feet with the bat.

They have arguably never faced challenges like they do at the moment but aside from Australia who have generally never strayed too far from the top 3 nations in test cricket in my time following it, the other constant over that 32 years has been SA albeit without as much time at the absolute summit.

They’re still too 2 in the WTC too don’t forget so I give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being at least

I really do hope you are right, I have always loved South African cricket and is big on my bucket list to go and watch the Aussies play a test series over there.

Their bowling is exceptional. There do seem to be some batting prodigies there and I hope they come on. But the batting is very thin at the moment.

They have such a strong school system in South Africa with great participation so they should be producing talent.

It’s more the business of cricket that is the issue.

 

[PhatBoy]

I really do hope you are right, I have always loved South African cricket and is big on my bucket list to go and watch the Aussies play a test series over there.

Their bowling is exceptional. There do seem to be some batting prodigies there and I hope they come on. But the batting is very thin at the moment.

They have such a strong school system in South Africa with great participation so they should be producing talent.

It’s more the business of cricket that is the issue.

Having not been fond of Australia and been too young to appreciate the fear factor of the west indies when I was watching Patterson and Bishop bowl express alongside Ambrose and Walsh as a young kid, the one team that I have always been excited to watch BOWL (most of my cricket heroes are batsmen) has been SA. Donald was still very quick when I started to appreciate pace bowling, Steyn is probably my favourite bowler ever, Morkel when he got his tail up though not in the same class, was frightening, even fringe bowlers like Mfneko Ngam who bowled like the wind, or a not quite fast bowler like Andre Nel was always exciting to watch. Rabada continues that tradition, Philander in the right conditions was simply hypnotic and now I would argue a good case that Anrich Nortje is the most spectator friendly bowler in the world given his pace, his action (he looks like he WANTS to bowl fast every ball a bit like Shoaib used to) - so on that score while WI are always my favourite team, watching SA is a thrill and to do it over there on some of those flying pitches would be amazing.

I really hope they can find some batsmen that can live up to what’s come before them

 

[Gough]

I really do hope you are right, I have always loved South African cricket and is big on my bucket list to go and watch the Aussies play a test series over there.

Their bowling is exceptional. There do seem to be some batting prodigies there and I hope they come on. But the batting is very thin at the moment.

They have such a strong school system in South Africa with great participation so they should be producing talent.

It’s more the business of cricket that is the issue.

Newlands is the highlight of any cricket fan's trip over there.

 

[James Colorado]

I really do hope you are right, I have always loved South African cricket and is big on my bucket list to go and watch the Aussies play a test series over there.

Their bowling is exceptional. There do seem to be some batting prodigies there and I hope they come on. But the batting is very thin at the moment.

They have such a strong school system in South Africa with great participation so they should be producing talent.

It’s more the business of cricket that is the issue.

Even as an Aussie, my favourite player I've seen is Jacques Kallis. Basically my ultimate sporting man crush. Fantastic in every facet of the game, and always seemed like a gentleman, too. I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that he should have been considered alongside Ponting, Lara, and Tendulkar as the prime batsmen of his generation. Ponting had the ability to simply dominate an attack, Lara the sheer grace (and the big scores...), Tendulkar the near perfect technique. Kallis didn't have any of that, but what he had was sheer, bloody-minded consistency (fwiw I have Sangakkara on the same tier as well). Even retired as a centurion in his last innings.

What Kallis also had is obviously his bowling. He wasn't quite world class as a bowler the way he was as a batsman, but 292 wickets is a remarkable record, and I believe that if he had been a lesser batsman he would've put the focus on his bowling to be elite.

 

[Gough]

Even as an Aussie, my favourite player I've seen is Jacques Kallis. Basically my ultimate sporting man crush. Fantastic in every facet of the game, and always seemed like a gentleman, too. I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that he should have been considered alongside Ponting, Lara, and Tendulkar as the prime batsmen of his generation. Ponting had the ability to simply dominate an attack, Lara the sheer grace (and the big scores...), Tendulkar the near perfect technique. Kallis didn't have any of that, but what he had was sheer, bloody-minded consistency (fwiw I have Sangakkara on the same tier as well). Even retired as a centurion in his last innings.

What Kallis also had is obviously his bowling. He wasn't quite world class as a bowler the way he was as a batsman, but 292 wickets is a remarkable record, and I believe that if he had been a lesser batsman he would've put the focus on his bowling to be elite.

One of my cousin's moved in some of the same circles as him when she was at high school and she said that it was fortunate he was good at cricket because he had the iq and personality of a turnip which might explain why he's slightly less recognised than some of his more charismatic peers.

 

[Seedsfan]

Even as an Aussie, my favourite player I've seen is Jacques Kallis. Basically my ultimate sporting man crush. Fantastic in every facet of the game, and always seemed like a gentleman, too. I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that he should have been considered alongside Ponting, Lara, and Tendulkar as the prime batsmen of his generation. Ponting had the ability to simply dominate an attack, Lara the sheer grace (and the big scores...), Tendulkar the near perfect technique. Kallis didn't have any of that, but what he had was sheer, bloody-minded consistency (fwiw I have Sangakkara on the same tier as well). Even retired as a centurion in his last innings.

What Kallis also had is obviously his bowling. He wasn't quite world class as a bowler the way he was as a batsman, but 292 wickets is a remarkable record, and I believe that if he had been a lesser batsman he would've put the focus on his bowling to be elite.

Yeah that’s what makes him so remarkable, he was close to the batsmen of his generation and still took the 292 test wickets. He was the best player of his generation

 

[Gethelred]

Batting at 3 as well.

Smith will most likely finish with more attractive stats but to what my eyes have seen Ponting is the better batsman.

There was a period of about 4-5 years in which you couldn't bowl closer than a full foot outside off to Ponting because he'd find a way to hit you for 4. Run a ball centuries in test cricket were commonplace for him; he made the extremely hard look simple.

But Smith has arguably harder runs in India and has completely trivialised an English attack in arguably a stronger era for English bowling, in harder conditions to bat in. Ponting also had significantly more support.

I think to an extent there's a bit of a disconnect at play here. I'd watch Ponting bat every day if I could, whether we're talking at his best or his worst; he was a genuinely gorgeous batter to watch. Smith has a certain majesty to him when he's on - and the new technique is a lot more attractive on the eye - but he's a workman as much as he's an artist. You're going to prefer the artwork and danger and dominance of Ponting as a spectator of the sport; Ponting is by far the prettier batter.

But beauty isn't effectiveness.

 

[Some Idiot]

South Africa will rise again. Their pace bowling ensures that they stay somewhere in the mix. Their policy on selection has compromised the team at stages but it seems to be producing in the bowling department at least and I’m confident if they actually start playing more regularly that they will find their feet with the bat.

They have arguably never faced challenges like they do at the moment but aside from Australia who have generally never strayed too far from the top 3 nations in test cricket in my time following it, the other constant over that 32 years has been SA albeit without as much time at the absolute summit.

They’re still too 2 in the WTC too don’t forget so I give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being at least

While they do seem to keep producing great bowlers, they're definitely struggling to find elite batting talent of late.

 

[JackOutback]

Great batter, will probably end up second statistically, though I didn't enjoy watching him as much as Ponting, who had such class, or Border and Waugh, who had such grit. The fact he was a shit captain and seems like a bit of a bellend probably weighs into it a bit, but reckon he has to end up in the all-time great Test team.

 

[revo333]

Great batter, will probably end up second statistically, though I didn't enjoy watching him as much as Ponting, who had such class, or Border and Waugh, who had such grit. The fact he was a s**t captain and seems like a bit of a bellend probably weighs into it a bit, but reckon he has to end up in the all-time great Test team.

Yeah, it's a shame.

 

[Sonny Hayes]

Great batter, will probably end up second statistically, though I didn't enjoy watching him as much as Ponting, who had such class, or Border and Waugh, who had such grit. The fact he was a s**t captain and seems like a bit of a bellend probably weighs into it a bit, but reckon he has to end up in the all-time great Test team.

What makes him a bellend out of curiosity?

 

[BGman]

Batting at 3 as well.

Smith will most likely finish with more attractive stats but to what my eyes have seen Ponting is the better batsman.

Neither Smudge or Punter have/had a cast iron technique. What they did have/had was incredible hand/eye co ordination. Ponting started out fending at the wide one or losing his balance when walking with his drives. I remember saying how did he make First Class cricket with such obvious batting flaws. In this latter years he fell into the habit of falling over his front pad and having to hit across himself and becoming a choice LB target. It did not stop him continuing to churn out runs until he retired.

Smudge was rather an ordinary batsmen in his early years. Leg spin was his main asset. Problem was both were insufficient for him to hold his Test spot. His resurrection came in 2013 when he returned for the England Ashes and scored his first century (stand corrected). He still bowled leg spin but batting was now his #1 weapon. Not satisfied with his lack of big run scoring he changed his stance technique to a full step trigger movement. His detractors called it quirky and likely to backfire on the man they said was odd already with his nervous twitching and fidgeting before facing up. Now he comes up with this other oddity. How wrong they were. Bowling attacks suddenly were unable to penetrate this stonewall that smudge had put up. The rest is cricket history.

 

[AFDogs]

What makes him a bellend out of curiosity?

Yeah not sure either. He's a full blown cricket NUFFY. Nothing wrong with that sometimes.

Saw him at Crown having a punt with Maxwell a few weeks ago with the common folk. You love to see it.

 

[Sonny Hayes]

Yeah not sure either. He's a full blown cricket NUFFY. Nothing wrong with that sometimes.

Saw him at Crown having a punt with Maxwell a few weeks ago with the common folk. You love to see it.

Absolutely he seems like a decent guy, not sure a great leader but not a bad person. Outside of his one big mistake he is a great role model for kids to look up to in my opinion.

 

[JackOutback]

Absolutely he seems like a decent guy, not sure a great leader but not a bad person. Outside of his one big mistake he is a great role model for kids to look up to in my opinion.

If you ignore the fact he's been lying about it for four years, sure. But I'm not one of those suckered in by the tears. He knew, the bowlers knew, the whole team knew. Takes the gloss off.

And his guitar playing is shit.

 

[Sonny Hayes]

If you ignore the fact he's been lying about it for four years, sure. But I'm not one of those suckered in by the tears. He knew, the bowlers knew, the whole team knew. Takes the gloss off.

And his guitar playing is s**t.

They seemed genuine to me, so he’s a shit Bloke because of one mistake? I take you also hate the entire Aussie team if that’s the case?