A father’s insight into a batting genius: Simple mindset propelling Steve Smith towards 10,000 Test runs

Many questioned whether Steve Smith would reach the same glittering batting heights following Sandpapergate. His father, Peter, reveals the secret to one of the more underrated sporting comeback stories.

Steve Smith’s father has revealed that rediscovering the fun of the game has been key in his son rising again to become a Test run-scoring legend.

When Smith was banned for 12 months following the 2018 sandpapergate scandal, many held fears for the fallen Australian captain’s mental wellbeing and whether he could return from rock bottom to recapture the glittering heights he had reached as a batsman.

But the fact Smith needs only 38 runs to reach the 10,000 Test landmark this week at his home ground the SCG of all places – with his loving parents Peter and Gillian in the crowd – is testament to one of the more underrated sporting comeback stories.

Smith went to hell and back. But over time he has been able to reconnect with the fundamental joy of the game that first inspired one of cricket’s great batting genii in his backyard.

“I think he’s done a brilliant job. To come back and to make the adjustments that he has and to get through and to have fun with what he’s doing as well, I think it’s been great,” said father, Peter Smith, a rock of support from boyhood all the way through the highs and the lows of Smith’s career.

Steve Smith is just 38 runs short of 10,000 Test runs. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“And yes, he has done really well the last few years. It’s been good to watch and good to enjoy it with him.

“I think there’s always things that affect your enjoyment over time. But it’s getting out there and having fun.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a kid or you’re playing for the Test side, you’ve got to enjoy it.

“I think you just live in the moment. I think that’s what he did. He just worked through it and then came out and away he went.”

Smith has inspired a generation of children wanting to replicate his quirky and completely unorthodox technique.

To the point that Nathan Lyon’s brother, Brendan Lyon – a respected batting coach in Sydney – told Peter Smith at the MCG last week how challenging it is to hone the techniques of young batters who see Steve Smith and want to bat like him.

Smith became the unique phenomenon he is from navigating the unusual parameters of his Alford’s Point backyard cricket pitch on the outskirts of Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, but his father warned kids of today that it’s a mistake to assume he always had the idiosyncrasies about his technique that he has now.

“I had an interesting discussion with Brendon Lyon and we were just talking about coaching and how it’s difficult to coach kids when they look at Steven and look at his big trigger movements and don’t work out exactly how to do it,” Peter Smith said.

“What Steven has done, when he first picked the bat up he did it in a normal way. He played with it behind his front pad, straight back to the wicketkeeper. In a normal way.

“But what he’s done over the years is he’s had to problem solve and he’s had to adapt. And as he’s done that his technique has changed.

“So you go from what was a very traditional technique when he was younger through to what he has now. And that’s where his benefit has been all the way through, that ability to problem solve and that ability to adapt. And in doing so, it’s changed his technique significantly.

Peter Smith comforts his son following Sandpapergate. Picture: AAP Image/David Moir

“(The message to kids is) I think you start with the basics and then you have to learn to problem solve and as you do that then you make changes.

“But if you go and take all those changes that he’s made over lots and lots of runs and lots and lots of years and try and do it before you actually get the basics, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Peter Smith regards his son’s remarkable 144 in his first Test back from his ban at Edgbaston in the 2019 Ashes as his greatest innings – a feeling shared by Steve himself.

It’s important to remember amid the narrative that Smith is no longer the batsman he was that he has still compiled nearly 4000 runs and 11 centuries since sitting out of the game for a year, when he was at the peak of his powers.

Until the Gabba Test, Smith went 24 innings without a hundred – his longest drought – before breaking through for his dam-busting back-to-back centuries in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Peter Smith has loved the whole ride watching his son’s journey to join the all-time greats with 10,000 runs.

But in Melbourne last week he savoured seeing the return of that glint in the eye which he knew so well from all those years throwing balls to his cricket-obsessed boy in the backyard.

“You could see it on his face … he was enjoying himself a lot more out there in Melbourne. Brisbane was tough. That was a very tough innings but then you reap those rewards,” Peter Smith said.

“I talked to him before the series began and he reckons he’s been batting the best he has for seven years.

“I would think (it would be very special to bring up 10,000 runs at home in Sydney), for him. It’s more him.

“He’s the one doing all this. We’re just watching it and enjoying it, and very proud of what he’s achieved.

“For him to bring it up in Sydney, that would be great, but he’s got to get that 38 runs first.”

Originally published as A father’s insight into a batting genius: Simple mindset propelling Steve Smith towards 10,000 Test runs