The day Steve Smith proved himself a little corker

Steve Smith signs autographs for kids during a T20 game at Manly in 2018 Picture: Jenny Evans

In exile, Steve Smith played T20 for Sutherland at Manly Oval. His match was the first of a seaside double-header in Sydney. He carved a few runs and saluted the ovation of an affectionate sun-kissed crowd and then the legendary Test batsman sat unprompted on a milk crate while hundreds of kids lined up for autographs and selfies. He was grinning and talking as enthusiastically as them. Everyone who saw Smith that day thought the same thing. What a gem.

Pens and phone batteries finally died. When no kid had been left unattended, Smith accepted an invitation to the Manly VIP area to mingle with a few of his old NSW buddies and an assortment of club players who marvelled at what a genuinely good and unaffected fella he was. A bigger prima donna of a Test player, of course, would have been out of there the moment a grade match was finished, all this beneath him. Smith was invited to join them for dinner and drinks at the Hugos restaurant at Manly wharf. I know people who were there that evening. This is what they said. He was a joy to have around. Stumps was called at about 10.30pm.

Next day, a disgraceful newspaper story accused Smith of a drunken 12-hour bender before leaving Hugos with “a mystery brunette in a black bra.” appalling. Never had you read anything so misleading and ridiculous. The woman was no mystery. Her name was Gemma, and she was the partner of Jay Lenton, one of the players with Smith the whole time. Smith and Lenton’s missus had simply walked out of Hugos to organise taxis and Uber rides for the group. He’d had a marathon session, all right. A marathon session of being a little corker of a bloke.

Flash forward a few years to the SCG Test. Smith did what he did, which was nothing untoward, and again he was painted the unscrupulous villain. Ex-England player and Sky Sports commentator David Lloyd’s Twitter comments were so daft that I thought it was a fake account until the little blue tick suggested otherwise. Bumble’s fumble beggared belief. I never thought a 73-year-old would chase likes and retweets as feverishly as this.

Lloyd wrote of Smith’s actions around Rishabh Pant’s crease: “Ah … pathetic, childish … immature … what else? … thick, dumb … sad.” Thick, dumb and sad, eh! What an unbelievable assessment from an experienced cricket observer.

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Then Lloyd wrote a column for The Daily Mail in which he said Smith should have been banned from the Gabba Test.

“Given his history with sandpaper, childish Steve Smith cannot have two brain cells to rub together,” Lloyd wrote. What nonsense.

Smith isn’t the one under the pump in Brisbane. Tim Paine is. When a 19-year-old Don Bradman was on the verge of receiving his first Test cap, he received a whole lot of congratulatory telegrams from Bowral, including one which said, “Congratulations, you little corker!”

He wrote a letter in the local newspaper to thank one and all for the encouragement and support. He finished by saying: “While I am in the game I will do my best to live up to the standards expected, both on and off the field.”

Ninety-four years later, with the privilege of being among those to have followed Bradman into Test captaincy, Paine has this week received a timely reminder of his responsibilities.

His colours were lowered at the SCG but there’s a bright side to everything and if nothing else, the dramas of the epic third Test – dickheadgate, scuffgate, et cetera – guarantees a vast audience for the Gabba Test.

Every man, woman and his/her dog in Australia. Plus Englishmen like Lloyd and ex-captain Michael Vaughan and a billion Indians, their thumbs poised, ready to fire off their derogatory tweets and mean-spirited memes if Smith so much as thinks about marking the crease unless he’s holding a bat. Vaughan’s description of Smith as “very poor” was more attention-seeking nonsense.

The state of play? Australia is coming off its most dispiriting Test since Headingley in 2019.

Before the next Test of that Ashes series, Langer responded with the best and most productive week of his coaching career. He proved himself gold in a crisis, the little corker, and I bet he’s been at his finest this week.

Australia retained the Ashes at Old Trafford after the wreckage of Headingley, and now it can regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the aftermath of Sydney. I bet they play the house down and win in a canter.

Langer would have pounced on what this is. An opportunity like few others. The cricketing world in its millions upon millions will be trained in on the Gabba. If Paine and the Australians have ever wanted the chance to show who they really are, here it is.

The stage and stump microphones are theirs. They can say and do anything they like. If they don’t give a stuff, we’ll see it. If they do, we’ll know it. If I was Paine, I’d stay respectfully vocal. Get into the harmless forms of banter. But if Ravi Ashwin hits a great shot I’d say mate, great shot.

Every word and action will be broadcast, but it’s not an intrusion on the players. It’s a gift to them. It’s the platform for them to display their true colours.

Paine needs to be above the on-field rubbish. The “dickhead” call was beneath the position of leadership. He has to be better than that. He knows it.

From Friday he gets the opportunity to show it. His apology was welcomed. There’s hope yet. He has to be combative but dignified not in most Tests, but in every Test. That’s the cost of Cape Town for all Australian cricketers.

It’s a tough gig for Paine but he’s privileged to have it. The stage is his in Brisbane. The cameras are on him, a microphone is at his feet. How fortunate he is. What will we see and hear? The truth. Prediction? One of Australia’s worst Tests will be followed by one of its best. After which a large portion of praise should be directed at the coach. Another little corker.