Comments on: Smith had his baggy green pegged from school

By: Freud of Football

Freud of Football — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:11:10 +0000

Well having not seen young Smith I can’t comment but what is he?

Another Michael Clarke or another Shane Warne?

By: vinay verma

vinay verma — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:19:07 +0000

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.

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:41:01 +0000

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.

By: Jameswm

Jameswm — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:38:06 +0000

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.

By: vinay verma

vinay verma — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:12:38 +0000

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.

By: Freud of Football

Freud of Football — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:16:06 +0000

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.

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:42:24 +0000

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.

By: Brett McKay

Brett McKay — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:26:16 +0000

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..