Steve Smith has done an awful lot for Australia with the bat since becoming captain, now he must also contribute with the ball in the biggest series of his career.
Smith started his Test journey as a legspinning allrounder in 2010, when blonde hair and chubby cheeks were enough for him to earn the ubiquitous ‘next Shane Warne’ tag.
Smith’s second coming in 2013 was as a Test batsman. He has gone from strength to strength since focusing on his greatest talent, scoring 20 Test tons en route to becoming the best batsman in the world.
The 28-year-old has recently been reluctant to roll his arm over. He’s bowled just 25.1 overs in Tests since succeeding Michael Clarke as skipper in 2015.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon form a formidable attack and could potentially rip through England’s inexperienced batting order this week.
But with no allrounder at his disposal and an XI bereft of part-timers, Smith is the obvious fifth option and may have no choice but to bring himself on during the Ashes opener that starts in Brisbane on Thursday.
“We’re always trying to make him bowl. He’ll certainly bowl during the series,” coach Darren Lehmann said on Sunday.
“He’ll have to bowl at some stage I’m sure. England are a quality side and he’s got some key wickets against England before.”
Shane Warne is among many pundits to have called for Smith to bowl himself more in recent years.
“I certainly could bowl if need be, I’d prefer not to,” Smith said last month.
“Bowling legspin, it takes a lot of time. For me to get a rhythm that I need, it’s about bowling for so long and I like to focus on my batting.
“When I’m not batting, I like to watch the nets and ensure guys are training the right way – watching them prepare and giving them advice. Then I obviously have to do my catching.
“I’ve got to do all those things and it’s just not possible to do everything.”
Further complicating matters is that Starc and Hazlewood are both coming off recent injuries, while Cummins’ injury-plagued history has been well documented.
Smith must juggle going for the jugular with the need to keep his most potent weapons fresh during the first Test and beyond, with Chadd Sayers’ presence in the 13-man squad a pointer to the potential of a rejigged attack in Adelaide.
“We didn’t play one (an allrounder) last summer for a while, so we’re comfortable with the three fast bowlers and Lyon,” Lehmann said.
“We’re really comfortable we can get 20 wickets.”
Especially at the Gabba, where Australia’s most recent Test loss came in 1988.
Lyon regards it among his favourite grounds because of the bounce on offer, while the hosts boast a better pace attack than England according to the home side’s bowling coach David Saker.
“We’ve got the edge in pace, got the edge in height and we have the ability to knock good batsmen over quite regularly,” Saker said, having previously worked with Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad as England’s bowling coach.
BurgyGreen
Guest
This series may well settle the batting all-rounder v 6 specialist batsmen debate that's been going on for some time. We'll finally have some hard data as to whether or not we need the fifth bowler.
Deir-ba-zor
Guest
No one ever said that.
AREH
Roar Guru
Yep I think if available, Stoinis would have been a real shot, it's a shame for the young man he isn't, during a difficult time. They must fancy his likeliness of doing well at test level despite a poor FC season last year with the bat. It's another perfectly clear example that sometimes ODI form is the best pathway to get yourself into the test side, and not the Sheffield Shield. That is of course unless someone makes a mountain of FC runs and forces their way in, meaning it would be criminal not to pick them; ie. Bancroft
Rellum
Roar Guru
Two problems with this, When Maxi did play Smith rarely bowled him, he played as a specialist batsmen Maxi was never going to be picked. All the press seem certain that Stoinis was a cert to be picked based on his recent one day form. until he became unavailable.
Andrew
Guest
Wouldn't have been a problem if they stuck with Maxwell instead of Shaun Marsh.
Jarijari
Roar Rookie
Warner bowled medium pace as a teenager, in fact opened the bowling with Khawaja in junior teams.
Mike Dugg
Guest
This'll come back to bite the Aussies, not having an extra bowler. Our pace bowlers have a lengthy injury history and two of them haven't played a lot of cricket lately. Warner has 4 test wickets. A shame he went away from his very Warnie like leg spin and switched to the medium pacers. If Smith is so reluctant, Warner has to bowl instead