Allan Border Q&A: Steve Smith’s ball tampering punishment didn’t fit crime and he could be captain again
Allan Border says Ashes hero Steve Smith is rewriting the batting textbook and could one day return as Australian captain. Former Aussie skipper Border discusses whether Smith deserves to lead again in an in-depth Q&A.
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Australia’s Ashes success has revived memories of Allan Border’s iconic Ashes 1989 series triumph in England when a written off team beat the odds.
In a celebration of these achievements Border will join fellow tourists Ian Healy and Carl Rackemann on stage at Queensland Cricket’s Summer of Cricket Launch at the Brisbane Convention Centre on October 17 (tickets through Queensland Cricket).
Border talks about the quirky genius of Steve Smith, David Warner’s fight for survival as a Test player and why batting techniques are easier to pick holes in they used to be.
What do you make of Steve Smith?
He is rewriting some of the theory on batting. His balance is very good.
He has a million moving parts but it is a bit like a Jim Furyk golf swing. It might not be pretty but if you freeze frame it at the moment he hits the ball he is in great position. That is what it is all about.
So we may need to rethink what really works in cricket?
Well I don’t want to pick on Shane Watson but I remember he had endless trouble with lbw’s because of where he was planting his front foot. He would lose his balance and swipe across the pad. Steve Smith just clears his front leg out of the road. You cannot hit me on the front pad. Maybe it’s not a bad thing. He lets the ball come to him. When you start playing out in front of yourself on wickets doing a bit you can be vulnerable like some of the players are.
You can see in England’s body language they feel they cannot get Smith out. Did you have any player you faced who had that aura?
Viv Richards was like that. You felt because he was aggressive he might give you a chance but I remember in 1984 in the West Indies we just took the second new ball and Viv was over 100 and big Carl Rackemann was bowling to him. He hit the first ball he faced over his head into the sight screen. It ended up bouncing back to near where Carl was standing.
Chastening?
I was at cover and I thought “I wonder what is the highest score ever made in Test cricket?’’ Viv had that ability to suck the life out of you.
A lot of Australian batsmen struggled in England. What were your thoughts on their techniques?
Everyone goes hard at the ball. Travis Head just does not block the ball. Even when he blocks it it could go for four. No-one drops the ball at their feet. Kane Williamson is a great example of this. He lets the ball come to him. That technique stands you in good stead in any conditions. Can you imagine how hard Williamson is to get out on good batting decks? Some of the guys need to work on a Test match technique.
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So you have to change for Tests?
Yes, but it is hard to do. Harder than it used to be. I won’t say I feel sorry for them but I do understand the challenges. When I was around growing up you just worked on staying in. If you could do that with a couple of shots you made runs. Now there is 50 over cricket and T20 which is a power hitting game and you won’t play if you are a nick and nudge cricketer. Youngsters are playing more short form cricket and that is how their techniques are developed.
It’s 30 years since the 1989 Ashes tour – does every tour take you back there?
Very much so, particularly with the recent events. We had not won a series for 18 years, a long time. They have done us proud. It was a very interesting series to watch. It brought back the good times we had the not so good like when Ben Stokes took us back to 1981 and Ian Botham. 1989 was as good as it gets. We could have won 6-0 had we not had bad weather.
Do you have any opinion on whether Smith should captain Australia again?
It is an interesting one. I thought the punishment and the crime were a bit out of synch. To ban him for life from the captaincy would be too harsh. People say he has forfeited his rights. Has he? We have to get realistic here. There are a lot of barbs been thrown around but every country has had their moment with the ball tampering stuff. We were at the high end of the scale but Steve Harmison going on the way he has and in 2005 he was part of that team that did mints and things. So I would have no issue with him being captain again.
What about the matter of how well he is playing without the captaincy?
The is the other question. Do you want to say “you just score as many as you can.’’ He will always be the senior player you can ask the thoughts of. Does he really need to be captain? I am tempted to go that way. Let him and bat but either way would be fine as well.
What have you made of Marnus Labuschagne?
I have not had much to do with him but I have found him a likeable sort of guy. He is like Steve Smith in that cricket is their lifeblood. They love the process. He has been the big improver. He has passion but he has technique as well.
Who was the most cricket-obsessed cricketer you have seen?
I remember Johnny Dyson really loved his cricket bat and was always fiddling around with it. Ricky Ponting is like that. He loves picking up other people’s cricket bats. He is king of the cricket nuffies. I am really glad they have him around the side at the moment.
What about David Warner – does he have to fight for his place now?
I feel he has totally lost his way. I would have been tempted not to play him in the last Test but the problem is we did not have an obvious replacement. Even when he was trying to leave the ball he was nicking it. He has a couple of months so the Sheffield Shield games he will play take on a lot of importance.
But only Smith and Labuschagne are certainties for the top six and maybe Matt Wade. I don’t mind that grizzly sort of character at No.6 and he has worked hard to get there.
As a left-handed batsman who were the toughest bowlers you had to face?
I had a lot more trouble with the ball moving in to me. The guys who troubled me were ones like Danny Morrison, Ian Botham. I didn’t like it. Even Richard Ellison from England. If guys were bowling away swing you could edge it but I found the inswinger tougher.
What did our left-handers do wrong in England?
I felt they tried to hit the ball to mid-on rather than straighter and back to the bowler. They were effectively playing across the line. They were not so much as nicking and getting lbw.
What do you make of the enigmatic Usman Khawaja?
I know he gets riled by things more than he lets on. He has a bit of David Gower about him in that he had that lackadaisical looked and when Gower got out it looked as if he was not trying but he was trying as hard as anyone. Usman is real quality but he has not hit the nail on the head just yet and he is running out of time unfortunately.
In our conditions he is one of quite a few guys who you could line up and they would go well. It’s when the ball starts swinging and seaming or spinning that guys get found out.
Originally published as Allan Border Q&A: Steve Smith’s ball tampering punishment didn’t fit crime and he could be captain again