By Adam_Santarossa -
November 22nd 2009 @ 12:09am
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Smith had his baggy green pegged from school
Many were surprised when the name of Steve Smith was announced in the Australian Twenty20 side this week, but for a select few, such as myself, who have had the chance to watch the youngster closely, Smith has had a baggy green pegged for awhile.
I have been able to watch Smith closely during his rise in the ranks. We both played for the same junior cricket club, went to the same high school and played in the same high school cricket sides.
I remember my very first cricket presentation, hearing of this young Steve Smith who had smashed the record books with just as much ease as the cricket ball, earning Junior Club Cricketer of the Year, he would add the Senior award as soon as we was eligible.
The best example of what the man is made of was during a high school cricket game where we played the famed Endevour High School, whose pace attack included the recent Australian international Moises Henriques.
Whilst myself and the other fellow 12th graders sat in the dressing room fumbling excuses as to why we could not face the 140km/h plus Henriques, out trod the then four-foot Year 9 student Smith who promptly told us all to “harden up”, albeit with language much more colourful. Smith then proceeded to tear the Endevour attack all around the park.
He was always a controlled batsman prepared to build an innings whilst other batsmen got lost in the male ego of trying to impress their mates with a wave of fours and sixes, although Smith’s 83 not out off just 52 balls last weekend showed he is an entertainer as well.
His tidy leg-spinners are quickly gaining more and more fans with even Shane Warne rating Smith as potentially the leader of generation next.
He has played Australian U19’s for multiple years, captained Sutherland First Grade, won a World T20 Championship with the NSW Blues and now will have played for his country, all at the age of 20.
Whilst the team fitter is measuring Smith up for his Australian Twenty20 uniform, perhaps they could size him up for the Test and One Day uniforms, which, although sometime in the future, if Smith continues to score runs, take wickets and win admirers this frequently, they wont be far behind.
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Brett McKay said | November 22nd 2009 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
Adam, I don’t think anyone that’s seen Smith burst onto the limited overs scene for NSW is that surprised at all, apart from perhaps how soon it’s happened. He’s a good’un..
Greg Russell said | November 23rd 2009 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
A word of caution: Cameron White stood out even more than Smith at the same age and through the junior ranks. I mean, the guy made his Pura Cup debut while still at school, and in his first match he dismissed Michael Bevan, arguably the best Australian player of spin bowling in the 1990s (a mantle then passed on to Darren Lehmann and Andrew Symonds – I wouldn’t care to pick between them).
Look at White now: batting better than ever, and likely to forge a career for himself as an Australian batsman, but his bowling has essentially ceased. And yet at Smith’s age, and bowling much the same style, no-one doubted (and this included his Victorian teammate Warne) that he would be Australia’s next great spinner. I see obvious similarities here with Smith.
It seems to me that mentally one has to have the mindset of a full-time bowler in order to succeed as a bowler. Does Smith have that? It does not look that way to me. Similarly, with Henriques. They both look to me like players who are trying to have a bob each way. If so, then it’s inevitable that they will end up as batsmen who bowl a bit, and that would be my prediction for both of them. Indeed, Henriques is already batting at 4 for NSW in T20 cricket.
If Smith really has spin-bowling talent and he’s serious about being a top-level spinner, then the best advice Warne could give him would be start batting at 11 and never to practice his batting in the nets. Somehow I find it unlikely this will happen.
Freud of Football said | November 23rd 2009 @ 4:16pm | Report comment
Interesting point Greg but I’d go one further and urge the nation not to listen to Warne. He keeps on talking about the “next big thing”, an honour coming from the great man but he obviously doesn’t realise the burden that comes with it. Everyone from the fans to the up-and-comers would be best served if Warne saved his frequent chatter for coaching rather than Pele-like predictions.
Bowling as a main focus is also an interesting point. Over the last 2 decades we’ve seen a lot of talented batsmen who could “bowl a bit”.
Steve Waugh’s medium-pacers were brilliant, his brother’s offies were pretty damn good too. Michael Clarke seems to have the control and brain to be a spinner, Lehmann too, Katich and Bevan have been unplayable at times and yet they all stuck with batting even though, with coaching, for mine they could all have used their bowling at the highest level.
Then there are players like da Silva and Jayasuria, Tendulkar etc. who fell into the same category.
One wonders, is it because batting is easier, because bowlers get taken apart or is it just not interesting? I always get the feeling watching M Clarke that he would rather be fielding than bowling.
As for players hedging their bets. Symonds did it (I don’t think he was picked for his batting alone), he couldn’t decide whether to be a mediocre medium-pacer or a mediocre off-spinner so he became a mediocre off-spinner/medium-pacer. Colin Miller did it with some success before him too although obviously his batting wasn’t as good.
Cameron White. Well the sooner he gets dropped the better. He was only ever a “decent” spinner and he had even more technical flaws than Watson in his batting, for mine those two should be battling it out for a batsman-all-rounder position and if Watson is fit, he wins hands down every time.
vinay verma said | November 23rd 2009 @ 6:12pm | Report comment
Greg..A few observations from last nights All Stars game. Steve Smith was given the charge by Hayden and bowled a dipping wrong ‘un,leaving Hayden stranded. This is the most difficult bowl to bowl well. Smith,on observation,is willing to listen and more importantly work hard on his bowling.
He is still growing but his hitting is based more on timing as distinct from White’s “muscle” shots. At North Sydney the other day Smith hit 4 or 5 sixes before he hit a four. Then he hit 5 in succession. His defence is better than Warne’s and as you know Warney was a handy batsman at number 8. They should not bat Smith in the top six. This will make him concentrate on his bowling.
Greg Russell said | November 24th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Just as a matter of interest, Vinay: apart from a top-edged upper cut or hook off a fast bowler, do you think it’s possible to hit a six that is not timed well? I doubt it. This is not to say that there are not different degrees of timing. But that will manifest itself in the distance by which the ball clears the boundary. I doubt that even players as strong as White or Hayden (or Viv Richards, etc.) could clear the boundary in front of the wicket without timing a shot pretty well. That’s the whole basis of bowling spin with boundary riders: no matter how powerful you are, you know that you have to hit it out of the screws to clear the fielder.
I admit I have not seen a lot of Smith (how can I – I live in NZ!), but what worried me about his bowling in the CLT20 final (which I did see) is that he took his wickets with really bad balls, half-trackers outside the off stump to be precise. I would take it as a far more positive sign with his bowling if I started to see him take wickets with good balls. Yes, I know that SCG MacGill also had an uncanny knack of taking wickets with bad balls, but he also took a lot of wickets with absolutely cracking deliveries. I am not yet aware of Smith doing that.
vinay verma said | November 24th 2009 @ 10:19am | Report comment
Agreed,Greg..timing is of the essence..the point I was making was the “muscling” of White against the “finesse” of Smith. You can see and feel the effort in White’s strokes. Smith does not huff and puff when he blows the house down. Very much like golf..Some swings are effortless and yet they hit the ball a long distance. Watch Jim Furyk and then Fred Couples.Fred invariably outdrives Furyk.
But,hey,you are the scientist and I am the romantic. I accept you cant hit it far without timing and it must be the degree of timing.
Freud of Football said | November 24th 2009 @ 10:11pm | Report comment
Well having not seen young Smith I can’t comment but what is he?
Another Michael Clarke or another Shane Warne?
Jameswm said | November 24th 2009 @ 7:38am | Report comment
It’s a tough one
I don’t know how they do training these days, but as an ex-all-rounder, I say keep working on both.
As I said elsewhere – this kid could be our first genuine all-rounder since Keith Miller. By genuine all-rounder I mean capable of being picked for either his batting or his bowling.
Mitchell Johnson for example is a terrific batsman but wouldn’t be in the top 25 in the country.