Steve Smith v Joe Root: In the battle to be the greatest, it’s a case of catch ’em if you can
The magic hands of the Australian have taken him to the verge of the record for most Test catches and the benchmark set by England’s main man won’t last much longer.
Steven Peter Devereux Smith catches the eye in Brisbane. England cannot catch a cold. Joseph Edward Root holds the record for most Test catches and yet SPD Smith will catch him sooner rather than later. Catch my drift?
The dear Englishmen have been catching a few rays at Noosa. They’ve been caught napping and golfing and swimming and holidaying on a disastrous tour thus far, caught with their pants down, and the Ashes feel lost after just six days of engagement.
It’s a bit early to be playing catch-up, but here they are, two-zip down and facing a classic Catch-22 situation.
Bazball cannot win in Australia because of an inherent and paradoxical truth. It’s Bazball.
SPD Smith’s catching fire. He’ll catch JE Root’s benchmark sooner rather than later. His left-handed, diving, low, full-stretch, catch-you-on-the-flip-side screamer to dismiss Will Jacks in Brisbane has sent him to 210 Test victims. Three behind JE Root’s record. How on earth has the Yorkshireman taken so many? On present evidence, England’s fielding and wicketkeeping are poor. Half-arsed preparations have a way of catching up with you.
“I don’t think there’s any better feeling than pulling off a great catch and backing your team up,” Smith tells Cricket Australia’s website. “Conversely, I think it’s one of the worst feelings when you drop one. That’s why you’ve got to put the yards in, work hard and hopefully pull off a few more of those good ones than the easy ones you can drop sometimes. Which we all do. I always rate left-handed catches higher than my right. I actually expect that I should catch them when it’s in my right hand. I’m a bit more surprised if it’s in my left.”
I’ve spent the last 20 minutes watching highlights of Smith’s catching. I’m unsure I’ve ever had so much fun in my life.
Barely had time to catch my breath. Trapeze artists get less hang time with the assistance of ropes and cables.
We catch Mark Edward Waugh, as beautiful a fielder as any to ever live, between his Fox Cricket commentary duties. ME Waugh’s taken 181 catches from 128 Tests with hands soft enough to pluck the strings of a harp while angels sing in the background. He says of SPD Smith’s catch-and-kill of Jacks: “Great catch, great instincts, great athlete. He would have seen it late but he just seems to always have the natural instinct and natural ability to get his hand in the right place at the right time. The ball just sticks in his mitts. He’s just an elite catcher.
“Being in the slips to the quicks or the spinners, he’s equally as good left-handed, right handed, and he takes so many great one-handed catches. Which is years of practice, obviously, but it’s really just a natural instinct that all the great catchers have.”
Smith catches cricket balls like Venus fly traps eat flies. He gobbles’ em up. His lightning hand-eye co-ordination cannot be coached. You either have it or you don’t. “Yep,” says ME Waugh. “Well, you can definitely practice and improve, but the elite catchers, like Steve, it’s just an in-built natural talent and natural skill they have. It’s there or it’s not.”
JE Root, 34, has played 160 Tests for his 213 catches. SPD Smith, 36, will play his 122nd Test at Adelaide Oval from Thursday. He averages 0.909 dismissals per innings compared to the Englishman’s 0.698.
“It’s a big one,” Waugh says of the underrated Test catching record. “Joe is a fine catcher. It’s very unusual to have the two leading catchers playing in the same era and now the same games. Well done to them.
“For the longevity and the skills and for keeping your reflexes at that level for a long time. It’s not easy to do.”
JE Root scored a gorgeous century at the Gabba but in the field, he cannot catch a break. Hasn’t taken a single one while SPD Smith has Venus-fly-trapped nine.
Opportunism and technique and no butter on the fingers are all part of it – as is concentration. You may start a Test day at 10.30am and wait until five-to-six for your first chance.
“That’s a big thing,” Waugh says. “If you’re in the slips, you mightn’t get a catch until the last ball of the day. You’ve got to switch on and off all day. That’s a big skill, and so is anticipation. You read the game, and there’s times when you think every ball is going to be nicked to you, so you’re ready.
“Then there’s times when you don’t think it’s going to be nicked to you – and you’ve got to be ready anyway. That’s an important part of it. Concentrating on every ball of every day.”
England’s catchment area had a shocker in Brisbane. It’s not recreational finishing. You’re not meant to catch and release. Five dropped chances triggered a sadder mood than Catcher in the Rye. All in stark contrast to the impact of SPD Smith’s magic hands.
Ta-da! Jacks was on his way and the Australians were bursting with adrenaline and momentum. Ta-da! Catch them if you can.
“Catching can be a little underrated by some people,” ME Waugh says. “Look at England’s catching in Brisbane. That probably cost them the Test match. In that half-an-hour on the second evening, when they dropped three or four catches that should have been taken, there’s the difference between winning and losing games.
“There are highs and lows and you can’t catch them all, but if your percentages are high, that’s the name of the game. When you drop one, there’s no worse feeling, you feel like you’ve let everyone down and let yourself down. Then you take a great one and it’s the opposite. It’s a bonus for the team. You’ve done your job. Everyone lifts. Steve Smith knows better than anyone … there’s no greater feeling than taking a great catch.”
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