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Allan Border captained Australia in 93 Test matches, a record for our nation and second highest of all time behind South African stalwart Graeme Smith on 109. Smith had only played 8 Tests before becoming captain of South Africa. Border, by comparison, had played 63.
Why am I comparing these two greats of the game of cricket? Steve Smith, that’s why.
Smith is in a situation wherein his own captaincy is a potential hybrid of the careers of both of those players.
Steve Smith first captained Australia at the relatively young age of just 25. Graeme Smith was only 22 when he took over from Shaun Pollock as captain of South Africa. Thus, if things go well for Steve Smith, he could well go on to not only break Allan Border’s record of 93 Tests as captain, but also Graeme Smith’s 109. That’s if things go well.
However, what we have seen recently of the Australian cricket team suggests that things might not possibly go that well. Yet, as Border demonstrates, that does not automatically mean a short-term career as captain. It is up to Smith to make it happen.
Graeme Smith inherited a team with the likes of Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten. As a captain, he was more or less able to hit the ground running, and it shows.
His 53 test victories is only closely matched by Ricky Ponting on 48 and Steve Waugh on 41. The latter two hold the highest winning percentages as captain ever, at 62.3% for Ponting and almost 72% for Waugh. Smith’s is only 48.6%.
The story is different in Allan Border’s case, and probably more closely represents the situation Steve Smith finds himself in now.
Border, sometimes known as “the reluctant captain,” became the Australian skipper at the age of 30. Steve Smith may be in a slightly better position as captain compared to Border, though.
Until Bob Simpson came along, the Australian Test team didn’t even have a full-time professional coach. At least Steve has Darren Lehmann… for now.
Further, the team Border inherited has been described as the “worst Australian batting line-up of all time.” Interestingly, it was to this line-up that recent comparisons were made in the aftermath of several woeful batting performances both here and in Sri Lanka.
The Test team’s woes of Border’s era is reflected in his record. Yes, he captained Australia in 93 Tests, but he only won 32 of them at a win ratio of 34.4%. In fact, Border lost more than he won: 47 Test losses at 50.5%. It is worth noting he lost one of every two Tests he captained.
Yet is was from this era that some of our greatest players emerged. Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, David Boon, Ian Healy, Geoff Marsh, Terry Alderman, Merv Hughes and Geoff Lawson to name but a few.
Steve Smith, at just 27, has a long way to go in Test cricket; another ten years is not improbable. He has the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, David Warner and Usman Khawaja at his disposal. It’s the foundation of a very good team.
The question of Smith’s statistics lie in the other 6 or 7 players that the future starting eleven will consist of.
Nathan Lyon won’t be around for too many more seasons, thus, the need for the next Test spinner is something that should be getting considerable attention right now.
Warner’s shoulder will hold for another two or three years, but after that, he is living on borrowed time.
The ghost of Adam Gilchrist still haunts the wicketkeeping position. The sooner Australia recovers from the addiction of a wicketkeeper that can smack a ton in 70 balls, the better. Peter Neville should remain in place for the foreseeable future. Better batting higher up the order would help the side.
The rest of the team is a total crap shoot. I think the Marsh brothers have had their day, at 32 going on 33, there just isn’t a future in Shaun anymore.
Mitch Marsh is done. Sure he could go back to his Shield team and grind away for a few seasons in an attempt to improve, but the lure of easy bucks in 20/20 will probably be too much to resist.
The result is that Steve Smith finds himself in the same position as Allan Border. He has a huge amount of work in front of him. The next five years, at least, will be painful.
There will be Ashes series losses, both here at home and in England. South Africa look like they have our number for now, and India will be the usual basket case of flogging us in one series and then choking in the next.
Unlike Border’s time though, Smith doesn’t have to worry about a rampaging West Indies anymore. So he has that in his favour.
The result is Smith would be best served by forgetting about emulating the Test captaincies of Waugh or Ponting. Instead, he should turn to Border and remember that he served as captain for longer than those two despite losing over half of the Tests he captained.
Steve Smith’s legacy won’t be his record. Like Border, it will be the team he leaves behind for the next captain of Australia to inherit, whoever he, or she, may be.
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