{"id":81352,"date":"2024-01-17T03:34:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T03:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/?p=81352"},"modified":"2024-01-17T03:35:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T03:35:09","slug":"smiths-stepping-out-of-shadows-in-big-risk-what-happens-next-could-change-everything-bbb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/smiths-stepping-out-of-shadows-in-big-risk-what-happens-next-could-change-everything-bbb\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith\u2019s stepping out of shadows in big risk. What happens next could change everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think \u2018greatest Test innings of all time\u2019 and you might recall Ben Stokes\u2019 wild 2019 escape act, or perhaps VVS Laxman\u2019s 281 to down Australia in 2001 after India was asked to follow on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shortlist is long, and offers apples with oranges comparisons, but you\u2019ll find one thing uniting contenders is a fear that preceded the greatness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the common theme with Steve Smith\u2019s greatest Test contributions, too.<\/p>\n

We most fondly remember his consecutive centuries at Edgbaston in the 2019 Ashes for their unlikely brilliance, but also for just how dire things would\u2019ve been for Australia without them.<\/p>\n

Similar could be said for his double century at Old Trafford later that series or, two years earlier, his century that spearheaded a rare win against India in Pune \u2013 both knocks among his most revered.<\/p>\n

In each of these innings, Smith was at the crease inside 10 overs and led a fightback for a side in desperate need.<\/p>\n

If those innings are most memorable to us for the crises they prevented, then it\u2019s reasonable to think they might be memorable to Smith for the same reason.<\/p>\n

Smith has 32 Test centuries, but they are not equal when it comes to the memories they invoke.<\/p>\n

Consider that on Wednesday when pondering why Smith would be willing to put a chunk of his Test legacy on the line with a risky move up the order late in his career.<\/p>\n

Recent years have seen Smith fail to dead-bat talk of Test retirement which – at just 34 years old and not far removed from his 2019 masterpiece \u2013 comes as a shock.<\/p>\n

But as a deep-thinker, and someone who has experienced arguably the most crippling low the game has to offer, Smith\u2019s view of Test cricket is the same as ours – a pursuit of good feeling and memories that will last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

At No.4 in a Test XI largely firing on all cylinders, the opportunity to claim these rewards have been dwindling.<\/p>\n

By the final ball of the 2019 Ashes, Smith was averaging a stunning 64.56 in Test cricket, and had 26 centuries after his heroics in that series.<\/p>\n

Since then, Smith has averaged 45.37 in Test cricket while adding six more centuries \u2013 impressive numbers to be sure, but a drastic dip from the Bradmanesque standard he had set.<\/p>\n

Australia has won games of Test cricket, and many of them – but the sport has always been a confusing muddle between the individual and the team in a way no other game is.<\/p>\n

As such, it\u2019s fanciful to think Smith has found just as much enjoyment in being a role player as he did in being the main man.<\/p>\n

There is no need to unnecessarily package Smith\u2019s promotion as some sort of ultimate team sacrifice. This is as much an attempt to rediscover the magic of yesteryear as it is anything.<\/p>\n

True, there are potential benefits that satisfy the team, too. Playing Green at his preferred No.4 could prove fruitful to Australia for more than a next decade, while Smith\u2019s experience and astounding skill make him as likely to succeed as an opener as any other candidate.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget, however, that this was the idea of Smith, who didn\u2019t bring his plan to the team without a substantial cherry in mind for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince, I guess, Marnus (Labuschagne) has been playing at No.3, I\u2019ve been waiting to bat for quite a long period of time,\u201d Smith told Fox Cricket last week. \u201cAnd, I don\u2019t really like waiting to bat.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I thought, \u2018why don\u2019t I put my hand up and have a crack up top, and that way you can get Cameron Green in and you\u2019re playing your best six batters\u2019, so hopefully it works out well.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also no surprise that memories of domination in 2019 were front of mind for Smith when making the request.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like facing the newer ball. You look at the 2019 Ashes, I was in pretty early most of the time there facing the new ball,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI batted No.3 for a number of years, too, and was in early and did pretty well against the new ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s nothing new or foreign to me. I like getting in there and among it and I\u2019m looking forward to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

RE-EMERGING FROM THE SHADOWS<\/b><\/p>\n

Smith is hungry for the new challenge because the old one was virtually conquered.<\/p>\n

As his Test average slipped below the modern game\u2019s magical 60.00 mark, something started to feel amiss with Smith. His fire no longer burning so brightly, despite Australia\u2019s many team successes.<\/p>\n

Over the past four years, others have owned the majority of the biggest moments for this team.<\/p>\n

With the bat, we think of Usman Khawaja and Mitch Marsh\u2019s resurgences, Travis Head\u2019s steady rise, or David Warner\u2019s monster innings in Adelaide and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

With the ball, we\u2019ve enjoyed Pat Cummins in the peak-Glenn McGrath realm, combined with the devastating contributions of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, and THAT Scott Boland moment at the MCG.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
Steve Smith is stepping out of the shadows. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All this is to say that Smith, despite being spoken about only a few years ago as the best since Sir Donald Bradman, has been playing in the shadows through little fault of his own.<\/p>\n

Tired of waiting for the big game situations to return to him, Smith has decided to chase those moments himself.<\/p>\n

By opening the batting, nothing has been left to chance. A big chance for Smith to impact virtually every Australian Test innings now awaits.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, the fire is back, with Smith a fired-up figure in the nets. On Tuesday, any miscued drive was met with utter disgust, and was avenged with a crisp blow the next ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cF**k off,\u201d Smith muttered after one mistimed drive through midwicket, which was promptly followed by a brutal stroke through the covers the next ball.<\/p>\n

According to Australia\u2019s captain Pat Cummins, this week has been up there with the most fired-up he\u2019s seen Smith in training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as happy and energetic that I\u2019ve seen him around the nets in the past couple of days,\u201d Cummins said. \u201cHe can\u2019t wait to get out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Smith expects more as batting opener | 02:32<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Nonetheless, Cummins said that even for a player of Smith\u2019s calibre, the challenge of opening the batting in Test cricket \u201ccan\u2019t be underestimated\u201d.<\/p>\n

And so it now comes to this; a major gamble from Smith on both the present, and on future legacy.<\/p>\n

Wednesday could be the first day of the final chapter in Smith\u2019s Test career, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a risk he\u2019s willing to take to not simply become Australia\u2019s leading man again, but to find enjoyment in the only way he knows how.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think \u2018greatest Test innings of all time\u2019 and you might recall Ben Stokes\u2019 wild 2019 escape act, or perhaps VVS Laxman\u2019s 281 to down Australia in 2001… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}