Steve Smith, the Wrong Prover

Poor old Smithers. Mistreated, misunderstood, and desperately in love with his boss, Mr. Burns. Stuck in a dead end job with no way to move up in the world. It's no wonder he's turned to collecting Malibu Stacey dolls in attempt to eek something out of his most unsatisfactory life. Although I can't exactly say that I know all that much about Steven Smith's personal issues, hobbies and sexual orientation, I can definitely say that, unlike his dopelganger and nickname-sake Waylon Smithers, he is definitely moving up in the world when it comes to his chosen profession.

One of Steven Smith's early nicknames was "Waylon" after the Simpsons character. Hmmm.

Yes, by some miracle, Steve Smith has managed to get his unorthodox, ungainly, sometimes just downright ridiculous technique to work at test level. After making a fighting 92 against a skillful Indian spin attack in Mohali back in March, he followed it up in the most recent Ashes series with some handy fifties in Nottingham and Manchester, capping it all off with his maiden test century in tough batting conditions at The Oval. He fidgets at least 10 - 15 times before every delivery; with his pads, his gloves, his helmet, his box, then his pads again, and then he makes each of his shots look like singular giant fidgets. And yet in recent times he has proven to be as valuable to the stuttering Australian batting lineup as any.

When I first saw Steve Smith, probably back in 2009, I touted him as the next big thing (as did many others at the time), mainly for his legspin bowling. I was even telling my mates that he would be our next Shane Warne. Of course, they all laughed at me, and told me what they really thought of Smith's bowling (pretty average). Next thing we knew, he was into the test side for the series against Pakistan in the winter of 2010, picked as Australia's premier spinner. And the following summer he played in the Ashes as some kind of floating allrounder. His legspin was a bit of a flop, and his batting was comprehensively found out by the bowling quality at test level. Not for the first time, I was proven wrong. I copped the stick I deserved from my mates. Consequently, Smith was dumped, and his development handled extremely poorly by Cricket Australia (surprise, surprise). He fell into the cricketing void that is the limited-overs specialist. So much for the next Warnie!

So over the next few years, I didn't hear much of the man that I had declared the next cricketing messiah. His bowling declined as the ever-slogging batsman of the T20 world started taking spin bowlers apart. I saw him pull off a few flashy feats in domestic cricket and the IPL (including the best piece of fielding in cricketing history, see video below). He even captained the Pune Warriors India in a few matches, putting on display his potential leadership qualities. But that was all. I definitely thought we had seen the last of Steven Smith, at test level at least.

 

However, in the last season or two, Steve Smith started making hundreds. First for New South Wales, and then for Australia A. Suddenly, he was in the fray for Australian selection again. In March, Smith was handed a lucky break in Mohali after the fateful "homework" incident. I very much doubted the selection, and once again, I was proven wrong. This time not by my mates, but by Steve Smith himself. He displayed maturity and poise, such that I had not seen from him before. He certainly showed that he is the best player of spin in Australian cricket, behind only Michael Clarke (though it may yet be seen that he is even better than Clarke). I love watching both players play spin; particularly notable is the use of their feet in both attack and defense (I could very easily go on a large tangent about playing spin bowling, but I'll save you all the trouble... for now). 

The next twist in the Smith saga came when he was not selected for the 2013 tour of England, despite his obvious gains in ability and maturity. Questions were again asked of his ungainly style of batting, especially against the swinging ball in English conditions. And then, thanks to a mixture of good fortune and great form for Australia A, he found himself playing in the first Ashes test in Manchester. Before the series, he was criticized for his technique and temperament, and once more, he proved the critics wrong. It was such a relief to see that, finally, a young player had gone back to domestic level, had a long hard look at his technique, and worked perilously hard on improving it. He also showed that, although a good technique is quite handy at test level, what really matters is what's upstairs - and Steve Smith is one seriously mentally tough character - which is why he often out-performs his fellow young counterparts in Warner, Cowan, Hughes and Khawaja.

Smith celebrates his maiden hundred

More players like Steve "Waylon" Smith are needed in the Australian side. Not the flashy, fragile types like Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja, who are undoubtedly talented but just can't seem to adapt to the next level, but players who are gritty, mentally tough and are constantly striving to work hard on their games and improve. Like Smithers, Smith is the kind of guy who is never likely to be remembered as one of the greats; he's always going to be most famous for his unprecedented awkwardness. He's always going to have his doubters. I just can't wait for him to prove us all wrong again.