Slashing ton a nod to brighter things to come

The telltale signs that shows Australia’s master batter is back to his best.

Steve Smith was nodding. It was a confident nod. A nod that meant he was in charge of proceedings. There was even a slight tilt of the head and a slight pout of the lips as if to say, “I knew exactly what the bowler was trying to do, and I responded exactly the way I wanted to.”

The fact is he had picked Mohammad Siraj’s bouncer almost from the moment the ball left the fast bowler’s hand. Which you could make out by how quickly Smith leant on his backfoot and got into a position to play the hook. Followed by how comfortably he managed to execute the shot, with the ball sailing over the fine-leg boundary.

By this time, Smith was well past his century. He was indeed in charge of proceedings. But there was something about that particular nod that told you that he was admitting to himself that he was back.

If the ton at the Gabba was a sign of an ageing superstar rekindling his relationship with his peak form, the century here at the MCG was a strong signal that this was an ageing superstar who was back at his peak, and far from being done yet.

There is after all a lot you can learn about Steve Smith, his batting and how he’s feeling about his form by understanding his assortment of nods. Not that everyone reading this has had the time or opportunity to do so. Or the inkling for that matter.

I certainly have. I’ve of course spent a copious amount of time standing behind Smith at nets sessions around the world, and by now consider myself quite knowledgeable when it comes to getting a glimpse into his moods. It all comes down to which nod is making an appearance and when.

Steve Smith scored his fastest Test century in nine years Picture: Getty Images

There were a number of nods on show at the MCG over the first two days of the Boxing Day Test as Smith brought up his 34th Test ton to draw level with Brian Lara, Sunil Gavaskar, Younis Khan and Mahela Jayawardene. It was his fastest century since 2015. That was 20 centuries ago. That one, some nine years ago, against the West Indies at the ‘G was his 14th.

The thing with Smith though is that there’s a consistency to his body language. What you see in the nets is often what you see in the middle, which is also often the case with his batting.

After having been strangled down the leg-side on a couple of occasions earlier in the series, the one shot that Smith had practised quite a bit, both in terms of the positions he was getting into and how he was executing it, was the flick down the leg-side.

Making sure that he swivels his hips in a way. He’s turning his body while attempting the shot rather than just reaching away from his body with his hands.

He’d nodded a few times while working on it at the MCG nets two days out from Boxing Day. And he nodded again, as he managed to glance a delivery sliding down his pads from Akash Deep a few deliveries before he got to his century on Friday.

It was expertly played and also at a time the leg-slip fielder was not in position. This nod was more a case of Smith going, “I knew what he was trying there, and I was good enough to avoid any trap that they thought they’d set up for me.”

But that’s also when he enters a zone with his batting where he doesn’t even feel the need to nod. That’s when he is in complete command of the bowling attack. He doesn’t bother even trying to see where he’s hit the ball. That’s his way of showing disdain. That’s when Smith knows he’s on top. When he’s bossing the bowlers around. When Smith plays a shot in anger and immediately starts remarking his guard or, like he did a couple of times after spanking Ravindra Jadeja for boundaries, turns his back on the bowler.

There are rare occasions when Smith nods in a way where he’s impressed himself. Like the square drive he pulled off after taking a couple of steps out of his crease to spank a length delivery that sped to the fence. This had more an air of, “wow, ain’t I good.” But it was also a shot that has not been seen much in his repertoire in recent years.

There might have been questions about whether getting to three-figures in Brisbane in the third Test was one of the last bright embers of what once was. The 197-ball 140 at the ‘G in front of 85,000 was if anything a harbinger of what’s still to come.

And we can all nod collectively to that.