Steve Smith’s simple solution to talk of decline: more runs

Steve Smith in the nets ahead of the three-match Test series against Pakistan starting on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Is Steve Smith’s career in decline? It would be a brave person to suggest the skills of the greatest batsman of his generation are dwindling, but 2023 has not exactly been his best year and continues something of a pattern.

The side has gone from strength to strength, winning the World Test Championship, the World Cup and retaining the Ashes, and Smith has been a contributor to each campaign but admits he is not performed to his own lofty standards.

Smith has an average of 58.61 from his 102 Tests, below his career peak of 65 during the 2019 Ashes, but he got his runs at an average of 29 in the four Tests of the Border-Gavaskar series and 37.3 in the most recent Ashes (compared to 110 four years earlier).

He is still the best performed batsman of his generation, ahead of Kane Williamson on an average of 54.36. Virat Kohli’s Test average has dropped to 49.29 and Joe Root 50.29.

Smith says he does not need to “reinvent the wheel” and the solution is simply to “score more runs”.

“I think I’ve performed at a high standard for a long period of time and you’re right, I was probably below my standards of what I want,” he said. “For me, it’s not overthinking it, not over playing too much. Not changing too much. Just going out and trusting what I do and doing it for longer periods of time, hopefully to get the big runs and hopefully help our team.”

Smith averaged 80 against Pakistan in his five matches against them in Australia and is coming off an undefeated 200 against the West Indies at Optus Stadium last summer.

He has taken up golf but admits with some deprecation that he is a very ordinary player when compared the majority of his teammates who appear to spend more time on the course than in the nets, but he is not giving up on tinkering during his infamously long training sessions.

Smith says that he is working on adjusting to the tempo of Test cricket, on letting a few balls go and ducking the odd bouncer, as he and most of his teammates make the transition from world champions of the 50-over game back to the oldest form.

Speaking of his immediate future, he said he is going to “take it day by day and enjoy my time playing, and while I’m enjoying it will I’ll keep playing”.

“I’m not in any hurry to make any decisions or anything, so I’m pretty relaxed and looking forward to the summer.”

The Australians look settled ahead of Thursday’s match against Pakistan while the opposition is dealing with changes to its administration, coaching staff and captaincy after failure in the World Cup topped off a number of poor years.

Selectors have all but confirmed that David Warner will continue to open, Mitch Marsh will hold his spot ahead of Cameron Green and the bowling line-up does not have room for local tearaway Lance Morris.

Pakistan has been hit by injury to fast bowler Naseem Shah before the squad was named and spinner Abrar Ahmed was ruled out last week after injuring himself in the tour match against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra.

The visitors were frustrated by the slow Manuka wicket, which they did not think was good preparation for a Perth pitch that is expected to have more pace and bounce. The final day of the tour match was cancelled after water got under the covers during an overnight storm.

Smith, who played in the first two games of the T20 series against India after the World Cup, says the greatest difference for him as a batter this week will be adjusting to the idea that “there’s no pressure to score”.

He believes Perth conditions will favour the home side. The fact Australia has won every match of the last six series against Pakistan at home suggests that is so.

“It’s something we try and exploit I suppose,” he said. “We look at the wickets we played on in Pakistan that we get there didn’t have much pace and bounce and are very low. Subcontinent players don’t receive as much kind of bounce.

“We try to get those wickets behind the wickets with catches come into play quite a bit.”