Batting ‘marvel’ set to add final Test piece to puzzle
Joel Gould |
Steve Smith has a final opportunity against Bangladesh to finish his career with centuries against all the Test countries he has lined up against.
Teammate Beau Webster has no doubt the Australia No.4 is ready to add that final milestone piece to his collection ahead of the first Test which starts on Thursday at Darwin’s Marrara Stadium.
The 37-year-old has scored 37 Test centuries against eight of the nine nations he has played against.
Bangladesh is the outlier, but he has only lined up against them twice in Test cricket.
That was in the two-Test 2017 away series when he scored 119 runs at 29.75 with a highest score of 58.
Spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz were difficult customers on turners on that occasion.
Marrara Stadium is where Smith will get his first hitout after his last stint at the batting crease was for Washington in July in the final of the T20 Major League Cricket tournament in the US.
Smith and the Australian squad trained in Brisbane in the leadup to the Bangladesh series, but Webster said the master batter was always a threat no matter what preparation he had enjoyed.
“He’s a bit of a marvel,” Webster said.
“We talk about these big training blocks and making sure you are ready to go and it feels like he could step off a plane from Sydney and walk out there and score a hundred the next day.
“He is that sort of player that knows his game inside out. He knows conditions inside out and he is one of the great problem solvers when he gets to the wicket. I am in awe of the way he goes about it.”
Smith, sixth on the all-time Test century list, is just one hundred shy of Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara who has 38 Test centuries.
Webster said Smith was not as intense about his practice as days gone by and provided an insight into his serene mental state.
“He is not someone, since I have joined, who has hit millions of balls,” Webster said.
“He might have been like that before I was here but it certainly feels like he has relaxed with that side of things and is so confident in his game that if he was to have a day or two practice before a Test match you would still back him in to score runs.”
There are 12 Test-playing nations but Australia have not played against Ireland or Afghanistan and the last time they met Zimbabwe was in 2003, before Smith started his Test career.
AAP