Time will tell, but Smith's Test captaincy future looks grim

Time will tell if Steve Smith can successfully lead the Australian Test side to prolonged success, but at this stage you have got to doubt whether he looks like captaincy material.

It is easy to heap praise on the 26-year-old’s leadership potential given the mountains upon mountains of runs he has scored in recent times, ever since his return for the 2013 tour of India after a tick over two years in the wilderness.

Smith was one of the very few shining lights in India’s 4-0 whitewash win of the series and has since rocketed to the number one Test batting ranking in the world.

After 33 Tests, the third youngest Australian Test captain behind Ian Craig (22) and Kim Hughes (24) has compiled 3095 runs at 56.27 and made 11 centuries.

One of those tons was in fact an impressive 133 on his captaincy debut against India at the Gabba last summer.

Although in the same breath that we admire Smith’s ability to lead from the front with the willow, we must remember that that is only one important aspect of leading the troops. His captaincy to date has otherwise looked rather grim.

To put things into perspective, Sachin Tendulkar averaged 51.35 and amassed seven centuries in his 25-Test tenure as the Indian captain.

However the Indian maestro also recorded an abysmal captaincy record of four wins, nine losses, 12 draws and a winning percentage of just 16 per cent.

“I hated losing and as captain of the team I felt responsible for the string of miserable performances … (and) did not know how I could turn it around,” he wrote in his autobiography Playing it My Way.

Looking beyond the abundance of runs Smith has scored, we can start at the Boxing Day Test against India last summer.

In what was the first draw at the MCG in 17 years, the newly appointed skipper gave a glimpse of a highly defensive captain, allowing Shaun Marsh and the tail to bat well into the morning session of Day 5 before declaring with a lead of 383 runs.

Being 2-0 up in the series with two to play, he clearly wanted to leave India with no hope of drawing the series and thus retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

However it is not ‘the Aussie way’ to not want to win in a whitewash and sometimes you have got to live and die by the sword.

Think back to Australia’s 5-0 whitewash win of the 2006-07 Ashes led by Ricky Ponting and when it was replicated in the 2013-14 Ashes led by Michael Clarke, one of the most positive, attacking and creative captains Australia has produced.

Perhaps the most embarrassing blight on Smith’s Test captaincy debut came when it was coach Darren Lehmann who was seen waving to the two batsman to declare the innings closed.

Australia scored 848 runs in the match, the third-most in history in Tests between Australia and India, thus further emphasising Smith’s want for unnecessary runs.

Smith was again highly defensive in the following Test at the SCG, declaring the first innings closed after the Aussies grafted out a mammoth 572 runs across almost two days.

It gave his bowlers minimal time to take the 20 wickets required and the match again ended in a draw.

If the New South Welshman’s defensive captaincy trend continues, it will be hard to see him matching the illustrious records of some of Australia’s most successful Test skippers in history.

Steve Waugh captained in 57 Tests, winning 41, losing nine, drawing seven and finishing with an outstanding winning percentage of 71.92 per cent.

He didn’t have too shabby a team behind him – let’s make no mistake – but the record still speaks volumes about the leader Waugh was.

Although Ponting’s troops lost the ‘unloseable’ 2005 Ashes despite boasting the likes of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and ‘Punter’ himself, Ponting’s record was almost as impressive.

He captained in 77 Tests, winning 48, losing 16, drawing 13 and finishing with a winning percentage of 62.33 per cent before passing the baton on to Clarke.

Clarke captained in 47 Tests, winning 24, losing six, drawing seven and calling stumps with a winning percentage of 51.06 per cent.

Allan Border was a much more defensive captain than Waugh, Ponting and Clarke and often tended to want to bat until the opposition could only hope for a draw at best before declaring.

‘AB’ had a captaincy record of 93 Tests, 32 wins, 22 losses, one famous tie, a massive 38 draws and a measly winning percentage of just 34.40 per cent which clearly revealed his defensive mindset.

Border admittedly took hold of the reigns in a dark age for Australian cricket and when cricket was played in a much more defensive manner, although as his captaincy record suggests he still wasn’t a born leader.

I think Smith is in the same boat, and it’s not only the stats that indicate that. The constant nervous fidgeting at the crease doesn’t strike me as the movements of an Australian Test captain.

Nor does the way in which he overreacts in the slips after a dropped catch or after the red leather is sent to the fence.

In the first ODI against England earlier this month, Matthew Wade wasted no time in referring what he thought was a faint edge down the leg-side and Smith was seething.

The fact that the Victorian took the matter into his own hands in not consulting Smith didn’t portray the skipper as a figure with much authority within the Australian set-up.

I might be drawing a long bow, but Smith simply doesn’t strike me as captaincy material and certainly not in the same way that a number of his predecessors did.

He doesn’t remind me of the tenacious Stephen Rodger Waugh, who led Australia to a 2-1 Test series away win to the formidable West Indies in 1995.

His renowned doggedness as captain was epitomised by his first innings double century in the series decider at Kingston.

He copped a brutal bouncing barrage from the likes of Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh to steer the baggy green to a resounding innings win and hand the West Indies their first Test series loss in 15 years.

Smith doesn’t remind me of Ponting either, the lion-hearted leader who was playing first grade cricket for Mowbray in Tasmania at the age of 12.

The authority with which the second-most capped Australian Test captain handled the 2008 ‘Monkeygate’ saga spoke volumes about the uncompromising character Ponting was.

It was the scandal that essentially ended Andrew Symonds’ career but Ponting’s backing for ‘Roy’ was overwhelming and stood in stark contrast to the lack of support shown by Cricket Australia.

It is hard to see the calm-natured, baby-faced Smith ever having the resolve to keep a stiff upper lip when faced with similar hostile circumstances.

Test vice-captain David Warner is the closest Australia has to captaincy material, and you wouldn’t write off a changing of the guard.

I would not dare to predict that Smith’s captaincy tenure will end in similar circumstances to Hughes’ tearful resignation in 1984, but at this stage I wouldn’t dare to predict success either.

His uphill battle appears even steeper when you consider the very young, new-look XI that he has the task of leading given the recent retirements of Clarke, Chris Rogers, Shane Watson, Ryan Harris and Brad Haddin.

For the sake of himself and Australian cricket, however, let’s hope that Steven Peter Devereux Smith can find as much success as captain as he has with the willow and prove the doubters – including myself – very wrong.