The only two balls Smith Steve didn’t “middle” were the two that got him out in his first four innings as an opening batter according to Australia captain Pat Cummins, who never wavered in his belief in the run machine.

Smith was the almost-hero in the dramatic eight-run loss to the West Indies in Brisbane, becoming the first opener to carry his bat through an innings since David Warner in Hobart in 2017, finishing unbeaten on 91.

Warner was playing his second Test in that match, and while Smith was playing match number 107, it was just his second after urging selectors to elevate him to open the batting after Warner’s retirement.

The critics were quick to circle after a score of just 12 to start in Adelaide, then an ugly first-innings dismissal at the Gabba when he walked a long way across his stumps and was out LBW.

But the 35-year-old quickly corrected his technique for the pink ball, limiting his first movement in the second innings and defying the order of play, as his team collapsed, to bring Australia to within the brink of victory.

It was enough for Cummins, who never doubted Smith, to label him “brilliant”.

“Other than two dismissals, they are the only two balls he hasn’t looked like he’s middled,” Cummins said in the wake of the loss.

“He’s class, has been class for 15 years. Thought he was brilliant the way he managed the innings then through the different kind of passages and almost single-handedly dragged us over the line.

“He was fantastic; this whole series he’s looked really sharp.”

Cameron Green batted with Smith for 20 overs in the second innings in Brisbane, putting on a 71-run stand before Australia lost 8-94 to go down.

He said there was a sense from Smith that he was a different batter, that he was “making it look way too easy” in difficult conditions and proved to everyone, as if he had to, that he could do what he said he could.

“It’s probably the most he’s spoken to me in a Test innings – he’s normally in his own box,” Green told cricket.com.au after the game.

“He was basically saying ‘keep knuckling (down), it will get easier’. I don’t think it did really.

“He was incredible. I think we get used to these types of innings from ‘Smudge’, but also it’s great for his confidence (after) taking up a new role that I think brings life to him and his cricket.

“Obviously, I’m thankful for him moving up the order, but at the same time I’m happy for him to get a result and justify his own decision.”