Featured Article Of The Month: The New Era Ahead of Australia

Steve Smith started his career as a young leg spinner with an uncanny action. His responsibility wasn’t solely providing break-through by spinning the ball into the rough patch, but also to score some handful runs from his blade lower down the order at number 8. Nothing came too easily for this young lad as he had to face innumerable challenges to keep a long lasting place in the Australian side

Steve Smith made his international T20 and ODI debut in 2010 at Melbourne. What could be a better place to make a debut rather than Melbourne? He certainly lived a dream, one that any player would desire. He played up to everyone’s expectations and ended up as the second highest wicket taker in 2010 ICC World T20 competition by sending 11 players back to pavilion. After this scintillating performance, couple of months later, he received a Test call. This time it was “The Home of Cricket” – Lords, where he made his debut in Tests. He took 3 wickets in his debut match, making sure that he had his place cemented in the next Test match in which he scored 77 runs with the bat.

Smith had shown his all-round abilities including fielding as he took some prominent and striking catches on the field. However, this early bulk of success didn’t last long as he lost his place from the Test side for 2 long years. After playing consistent domestic matches in those two years, he returned to the international side in 2013. He made an awe-inspiring return with much tighter techniques by scoring 92 runs at Mohali in 2013. Since then, he cemented his place in the Australian line-up but this time mainly as a responsible batsman. He brought up his maiden century in the same year against England with a safely lofted six down the ground.

Over the next year, he kept on improving his graph of consistency, reaching new heights. He renewed his footwork and made sure it was spot on. In 2014-2015, he renamed the Australian summer as “The Summer of Smith” as he scored centuries in all four first innings on the home soil in the series against India. He set a new record for the most number of runs (769) in a series against India, surpassing Sir Donald Bradman.  “The Summer of Smith” also saw him becoming the 45^th Australian Test captain, filling the boots of injured Michael Clarke in 3 tests. Despite being only 25 at that time, his maturity in this apex role was evident. This special responsibility clearly didn’t hinder his run-making form.

After his man of the match performance against West Indies in June 2015 , Smithy became the second youngest player ever to reach the number 1 ICC Test batsman ranking and just the 8^th Australian to do so.

Smith has proved his worth in the team after his consistent match winning and run scoring performance. But there wasn’t an end to his success as he went on to register a double hundred against England in 2015 Ashes at Lords.

 The retirement of Michael Clarke following Australia’s 3-2 defeat in the 2015 Ashes saw Smith appointed as the full-time captain of the Australian Test team.

Steve Smith is often questioned about his captaincy. Why wouldn’t he be? As Australia’s success has always been because of the best and aggressive captains they have produced. Say it Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting or Michael Clarke, everyone has left a permanent mark in the history of world cricket as the best captains. Each of these had something unique as well as something common.

Allan Border was at apex when talking about the most aggressive captains. He would go to any level to make his team win, be it insulting his team mates on field. Ricky Ponting, the most successful captain that cricket has ever witnessed, brought immense gold and glory to Australia including 2 World Cups. Sledging was in his blood.  On the other hand Michael Clarke was pretty much calm as compared to the other two. The mind games and the tactics that Pup used to play are second to none.

After having such groovy and cracking names in the list of former captains, it is obvious that Steve Smith would be in a bit of pressure but he knows that he has got the back of all these former captains for advices and sharing experience when needed.

On the field, Smith’s athleticism and instincts stand out, even in the quality fielding side of Australia, he was a key player in the triumphant and victorious 2015 World Cup campaign. One can never believe to the fact, that once Steve Smith was playing a role of young leg spinner and now, he has cemented the number 3 position in the team, becoming the successor of Ricky Ponting, considered to be the best player of no. 3 position.


From a leg spinner, to cementing his position high up in the batting order and now being handed over full time test captaincy, speaks volumes about this man. A new era lies ahead for the Australians and from what one can expect, it seems to be a promising one.

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