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Steve Smith is the best Australian batsman since Bradman

5th August, 2019
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Roar Guru
5th August, 2019
27
1680 Reads

Sir Donald Bradman will forever stand like a colossus over the game of cricket. His achievements were unparalleled during his career and no player has since come close to Bradman’s singular dominance as a batsman.

Since the Don’s retirement in 1948, Australia have been fortunate enough to have a consistent run of batsmen who could be considered amongst the best at their craft. Names like Morris, Harvey, Lawry, Chappell, Border, Waugh and Ponting have each in their own way lit up the game of cricket with the quality of their batsmanship.

As great as each of the those batsmen were, Steve Smith has established himself as the best batsman since Bradman.

The most commonly cited method of showing Smith’s excellence is to look at his career average. Of all the batsmen who have played at least 25 Test matches, Smith is one of only three to have a career batting average of greater than 60. The next best Australian is Greg Chappell with an average of 53.86.

Batting average on its own is a simple crystallisation of a batsman at a point in time. To truly demonstrate Smith’s dominance is to see how long he has managed to maintain such an elevated batting average.

Smith has completed 16 of his 65 Tests with a career average of greater than 60. Steve Waugh, Greg Chappell and Matthew Hayden were just some of the batsman who never finished a Test with a career average of greater than 60.

This average is especially impressive considering Smith’s slow start to his career. At the point of Smith’s 20th Test, he only averaged 40.02.

If we look at Australian batsman who have played more than 20 Tests, Smith has completed the most with a with a career average of greater than 60. The next best is Michael Hussey on 13, then only Neil Harvey, Doug Walters and Arthur Morris have finished more than two Tests with such a high career average.

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Steve Smith

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Smith has been fortunate enough to play in an era where scoring is relatively easy compared to earlier times. However, we can control for this by comparing a batsman’s average against other players from the era.

Since Smith’s debut in 2010, the average score by all batsmen in all conditions has been 31.01 runs. When compared against Smith’s average of 62.96, this suggests that Smith is 203 per cent better than the average batsman during his career.

Smith is by some margin the best performed Australian batsman by this measure. The next biggest improvement over the average score during their career is Greg Chappell who is scored 177 per cent better than the average. Players like Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Harvey all scored around 165 per cent better than the average player.

Just for fun, I measured Don Bradman’s performance using this statistic. The average batter in all conditions during Don’s career scored 31.85 runs. When you compare Don’s mighty career average of 99.94, this suggests Bradman was better than the average batter by 313 per cent. Bradman is so far out in front that he may as well have been from another dimension.

I’m aware that I am judging Smith’s career against cricketers who have long since given up the game and there is the potential that his eventual career figures will not look as impressive as they do now.

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However, the strength of Smith’s career to date means that it is unlikely that Smith will fall too far down the batting tree.

As a random example, let’s say that Smith finishes his career on 168 Tests, which is the same number as Ponting and Steve Waugh. If Smith plays that many Tests and only averages 47.8 for the rest of his career, then he will still have a career batting average of 53.87, which would be better than any Australian since Bradman who has played more than 25 Tests.

Even if Smith’s theoretical average dropped to 41.4 over the rest of this hypothetical career, it would still be enough to maintain a career average of 50. All of this is to say that even if Smith declines, he is still going to have completed an amazing career.

Right now, that decline does not feel likely. He is in true command. He has the ability to score all around the park in a manner that is reminiscent of the best to play the game.

In my lifetime, Border, Waugh and Ponting were the only Australian batsmen to consistently provide a feeling of assurance. Regardless of the situation, when you saw them stride to the crease it felt as if runs were coming.

Smith has ascended beyond even this level. He batted in this Test with a sense of inevitability. That sense of inevitability is ultimately why Smith has raised his game to become Australia’s best batsman since Bradman.

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