Steve Smith’s ton matches Sam Konstas as dynamic duo shines

A day after boy wonder Sam Konstas lit up the Boxing Day Test with an innings of youthful, blissful exuberance, Smith was Batman, a more serious character, wooing the masses with an innings of card-carrying superhero authority.

Steve Smith smashes another boundary on his way to a sparkling Test century at the MCG against India on Friday. Picture: Getty Images

Steve Smith ducks and weaves before the ball is delivered. He flinches and twitches and bewitches and bobs and shuffles to his right as the bowler approaches. Stillness is not his preferred state of existence. Smith is a mover and shaker.

His batting is yin and yang. Physical movements are in broken lines but his mind is all heaven and sunshine and clarity. When the great Smith waddled to the middle of the MCG on Friday in the manner of a cheerful kid whose pads were a bit big, looking as sprightly and optimistic as a William Henry Davies poem – “Good morning, Life – and all Things glad and beautiful” – he promptly etched his name ever deeper into cricket’s dusty old record books with a 34th Test century. There’s a million Smiths in this world, and quite a few Steve Smiths, but none like this.

The runsmith made 140 against India while fidgeting like he’d lost his car keys. Couldn’t find his sunnies. He constantly touched his pockets and the top of his head.

A day after boy wonder Sam Konstas lit up the Boxing Day Test with an innings of youthful, blissful exuberance, Smith was Batman, a more serious character, wooing the masses with an innings of card-carrying superhero authority as Australia took the match and opposition by the scruffs of their sunburnt necks.

He can bat, man. Poetry in motion. Ricky Ponting (41) is the only Australian to have delivered more Test centuries than Smith. And It was Ponting who interviewed the runsmith at lunch at the MCG.

“It’s been good fun,” Smith said of his innings and perhaps his 15-year, 113-Test career. “We’re in a really nice spot. It’s never easy, Rick, it’s never easy, but if you get yourself in on this pitch you can sort of cash in.”

Smith enjoys the adulation of the MCG crowd as he celebrates his century in the fourth Test match against India on Friday. Picture: AFP

The runsmith is unique. A complete original. Industrious. Productive. Walking around as busily as John Howard in a tracksuit or Charlie Chaplin in a silent movie, with a circular backswing, and a wonky grip, swaying to and fro, he basically does everything a batter is not meant to do.

Somehow he’s glitchy and stuttering but freeflowing and expressive all in the same wonderful breath. Don’t copy his homegrown technique, kids. You’ll never get past third grade but it works for Smith, and now he’s on 9949 career Test runs, only a couple of lusty, poetic blows shy of joining Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927) in Australia’s elite 10,000-run club.

Smith was 139 not out when he spoke to Ponting.

Ponting: “Bat on after lunch and bring up the 10,000? Is that the plan?”

Smith: “What do I need, mate? Fifty-odd? Something like that? We’ll see how we go.”

Ponting: “Fifty two you need, mate. All the best.”

All went up in smoke. Smith departed while the dressing room staff was still clearing his lunch table. His mountainous, steely-eyed, Bradmanesque, Chaplinesque, 294-minute contribution led Australia to an imposing first-innings total of 474 before India reached 5-164 at stumps.

Smith can scarcely believe his luck after a bottom edge onto his stumps sends him on his way for 140. Picture: Michael Klein

Boy Wonder is one thing, promising plenty, but Batman is another, giving us a deep and meaningful celebration, with a furrowed brow, and the bat raised authoritatively. Still got it at the age of 35. Konstas gave us a glimpse of the future.

Smith is a living legend, a colossal figure here and now, but this was a bit of a blast from the past. When Virat Kohli approached Smith mid-pitch, you were tempted to call security, but the Indian superstar merely patted him on the back.

The runsmith has played his entire career like he’s in the nervous 90s and yet the nervous 90s did not make him nervous. He received the warmest applause. The MCG itself seemed to be closing in for a hug and a well done, mate.

It was a shame Smith fell short of 10,000 runs, but there’s something good and poetic to be said for reaching the landmark during his hometown SCG Test next week. A moving moment could make the walls shake. That would be beautiful.