Belligerent Travis Head allows Smith to “take second fiddle and do my thing”
Andrew McGlashan15-Dec-20243:30
Smith on why batting has become harder ‘since 2021’
Not out of form, just out of runs. That was the distinction made by Steven Smith when he was interviewed before the resumption of the second day’s play at the Gabba.A first-ball duck against a fired-up Jasprit Bumrah, a superb delivery by Mohammed Siraj and a tickle down the leg side had been his three dismissals to date. It was a small sample size in itself, but overall for 2024 he was averaging 23.20 from a more substantial 13 innings. He was on his longest stretch of innings without a Test century.To no one’s surprise, Smith had been tinkering ahead of the Brisbane Test as he returned to an exaggerated trigger movement across the stumps. There was also a sense from some that he just needed a little luck. He certainly had a dose of that as he battled against a ball nipping around on a surface that had only had 13.2 overs on it during the first day.Related
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India targeted him straight, which has brought success for the bowlers over the last two years that have included eight of Smith’s 32 lbw dismissals. His first ball was a strangled shout as the trigger took him across the crease against Bumrah. Later, Rohit Sharma was persuaded to review an lbw when Smith shouldered arms at Mohammed Siraj which proved to be umpire’s call. When Akash Deep completed the over that Siraj aborted to leave the field, only a nick saved Smith against a full ball.Shortly after lunch, he got an inside edge against a terrific delivery from Bumrah which Rishabh Pant had no chance of reaching to as it flew to fine leg. The raise of his bat for fifty, which came from 128 balls, felt almost a little apologetic. At the other end, Travis Head sat on 73 from 95 balls.
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As Smith and Head had done during the World Test Championship final at The Oval last year, this was a perfect example of partnership batting. The similarities of the stands were almost unnerving, at least from India’s point of view.On that day, the pair came together on 76 for 3 while in Brisbane it was 75 for 3. On both occasions Head (whose previous three innings at the Gabba were first-ball ducks) was out of the blocks quickly and Smith played in his slipstream. At The Oval, the split of the first 100 runs of their stand was Head 65, Smith 29; at the Gabba it was Head 65, Smith 30. Last year the stand ended at 285; this one was finally halted at 241 but the damage was done.Steven Smith found his hands…and more•Chris Hyde / Getty ImagesSignificantly, and as in Adelaide last week, Head had walked to the crease after the 30-over mark. While runs had not come at a gallop, the work to varying degrees of Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith had taken off the early shine, albeit there remained assistance for the quick bowlers.”If we can get to 30-odd overs when Travis comes in it makes a big difference to the team,” Smith said after play. “The seam probably starts to settle down around 30-40 overs and the ball stays quite hard. You see guys batting at five, six, seven that are able to hit the ball hard and get good value for their shots. That’s the kind of way we’ve been shaping up.”When Head brought up his second century in consecutive innings, this one from 115 balls, Smith was on 64 from 143.”The way he came out and just smacked it, I could take second fiddle and do my thing,” Smith said. “It’s nice to get in a partnership with him because the scoreboard moves extremely fast. We don’t say too much to each other, he just says ‘do your thing’, I just say ‘do your thing’ and we move on. It was cool to witness that again, he’s a special player at the moment.”
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There were signs before tea that the benefits of Smith’s early graft were starting to pay dividends and in the final session freedom returned to his stroke play. The trigger looked much more fluid the longer the innings went on.”I’ve changed my set up pretty much every game I’ve played for 15 years so it’s nothing new to me,” he said. “If I want to change a few things it really doesn’t take me long to do it. Sometimes I do it in the middle of an innings.”I try to adapt and figure the best way to play for each surface I’m facing. I was batting out of my crease a little bit, trying to get to the bowler a bit, walking across my stumps but leaving my left leg a little bit open. Thought my movements were pretty good today, maybe a bit bigger than I would have liked early on but felt like I was moving into the ball nicely.”Steven Smith and Travis Head added 241 for the fourth wicket•Associated PressThere was a cracking back-foot drive when Reddy dropped short at medium pace; he advanced down the pitch to the ineffective Ravindra Jadeja who Australia had clearly targeted; he drove Reddy wide of mid-off; he went into the 90s when he bisected the covers against Jadeja with precision; he drove Siraj on the up down the ground with a hint of distain.But one of his best took him to 99, a pristine on drive against Akash Deep which made a wonderful sound off the bat. There are a few trademarks of Smith at his best – the on drive might top the list.The next delivery was on his pads and he turned it down to fine leg for century No. 33. It moved him ahead of Steve Waugh into second position alone on Australia’s all-time list. His second fifty had taken just 57 balls. Smith started to pump his fists as he completed the single, removed his helmet, mopped his brow, and held his bat aloft, then gave it an exaggerated swing although played down suggestions the celebration had any extra edge.”You’ve got to keep the faith and know things will turn around if you keep doing the hard work and I’ve been putting the hard work in,” he said. “Rode my luck today, had some early on for sure, got beaten a few times which is going to happen on that wicket. On another day I might nick one of those. I had to earn every run out there.”He could not last much longer, driving at Bumrah and sending an edge to Rohit at slip who flung the ball away with more than at hint of anger, or at least frustration.Smith, too, was frustrated with himself as he walked off. But while he was out, he was no longer out of runs.
