Here we are in the age of Steve Smith, the blonde leg-spinning youngster turned best batsman in the world.
While I have no complaints on his amazing blade work, I find myself itching out of my seat every time he makes schoolboy errors when doing the hardest job in Australia – captaining the men in baggy green or canary yellow.
The latest being his bewildered team selection with Darren Lehmann, and his use of spinners, which led to Australia being defeated by Pakistan for the first tiem in 30 years at the MCG.
His reasoning was, I quote, “Obviously, [Travis] Head bowled that one over and they went after him quite a bit. The wicket was pretty two-paced, and a bit up and down, so tonight I thought it was the quick bowlers that were going to get the job done.”
Being a spinner himself, I find these comments quite puzzling. Michael Clarke was the wonderful tactician who brought Nathan Lyon to his best, because Clarke thought as a spinner and had the confidence in them to deliver.
Smith was a leg-spinner himself in his beginning, yet seems not to have any confidence in selecting spinners or using them if selected.
This goes back to the first ever series he captained, against India at home, when his defensive strategies were noted. You can forgive him for being a rookie captain at the time, but after couple of years, it’s time Smith learns.
You can argue that Lyon was awfully out of form this summer, which saw Smith go to his pace men. But even before, Smith had a tendency to go to his fast bowlers if he was in dire need of a wicket, even if condition demanded otherwise (at Perth against South Africa this summer comes to mind).
Coming back to the ODI at the G, by his own admission the wicket was two-paced, yet Australia decided not to go with Adam Zampa, who accidentally was the leading ODI wicket taker in the world for 2016.
Then, after seeing how Pakistan’s spinners tied down the Aussie batsman (24 overs for 97 runs), Smith had no confidence using his spinners. Yes, they might have had a gameplan to attack with seamers, but a good captain adapts.
This I have never seen from Smith. It’s almost like he was carrying out instructions (from the coach?) rather than dictating terms on his own. It all seems a template at times.
After just one over from Head, who got carted for 11 runs (Pakistan took a risk to take him on anyway), Smith seemed to go to his shell and revert to Pat Cummins instead of giving the spinner another go. There may have been few little runs to defend, but surely one over of spin is not enough to gauge its effect on an up-and-down pitch.
The other baffling thing is, with Glenn Maxwell being selected for India (not Head), he wasn’t even given one over. It’s difficult to imagine how our spinners will be used in India with this sort of a mindset. Before Smith became captain, Maxwell delivered regularly for Clarke or George Bailey as a handy fifth or sixth bowler.
If Australia are to succeed on the subcontinent or on two-paced pitches, Smith must be more aware that it’s not only 140-plus kph bowling which will win you games.
If Smith can channel the spinner in himself and act with freedom rather than being strangled by some template set before a game, it would do wonders for Aussie cricket leading up to India.
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