Opinion
Steve Smith only has Ricky Ponting ahead of him on the list of Australian Test centurions but whether he’s overtaken his former captain as the Best Since Bradman is not as clear cut.
The unofficial title of being Australia’s greatest batter since The Don has been debated through the decades since he signed off 75 years ago with 6996 runs at his iconic 99.94.
Neil Harvey, Bob Simpson, Greg Chappell, Allan Border and Steve Waugh stood out from the pack until Ponting started dominating bowlers worldwide at the turn of the century.
Smith is easily the most unorthodox of the BSB challengers and probably the most unexpected given his path from leg-spinner who could bat into world-class run-getter.
Has he overtaken Ponting? Not yet.
But he could.
Will he stick around long enough to do so? Doubtful.
Even though Smith became the first batter to reach 9000 runs in fewer than 100 Tests in his 99th match, he is still a long way from surpassing Ponting’s Australian record of 13,378 from 168 matches.
Ponting finished with 41 tons, Smith is nine shy of that mark after his superb knock to kick off the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
Smith has an average which has long teetered either side of 60 so he will likely finish his career well ahead of Ponting’s 51.85 on that front.
His defiant 110 in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s has brought his average back up to 59.73 but more importantly it was the foundation of Australia getting to 416 to set themselves up for victory in this match which would establish a 2-0 series lead.
Steve Smith celebrates reaching his century. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
If the Aussies win this Test they’ll only need a draw in one of the three remaining fixtures to regain the urn.
When comparing each batting master at their peak, you can make an argument either way and not be wrong but Ponting probably edges out Smith by a whisker.
Ponting at his best would bully bowlers into submission. The meanest, fastest quicks on the planet would dig the ball in short to unsettle him and he’d rock back, roll the wrists and pull the ball to the boundary.
It was a reverse case of the natural order with a batter putting the bowler on the back foot.
Smith’s signature shot is his clip off the pads through the same section of the ground.
Power was never his strength, his mastery comes from precision. The sum of his many moving parts at the crease adds up to exquisite timing which frustrates the opposition into the abyss.
In the 2003 calendar year, Ponting’s finest and one of the greatest in cricket history, he averaged 100.2 in hitting six centuries among his 1503 runs.
Smith hasn’t had a single year in that ballpark but had four in a row from 2014-17 when he surpassed the 1000-run milestone while never averaging lower than 71.
We will never know how much of a difference it made to his career but even though the year he had out of the game due to the ball-tampering scandal of 2018 was a mid-career freshen-up mentally and physically, it also denied him 12 months of performances in his prime.
“It’s a technique all of his own and it’s certainly kept the bowlers from all countries guessing,” Ponting said on commentary as Smith etched his name onto the Lord’s honour board for the second time with another triple-figure tally. Mercifully for England he didn’t match his 2015 effort at the ground of 215.
“The greatness of Steve Smith is not that he’s dominated one team or one country. He’s been able to do it all over the world.”
Smith has been coy in recent times when asked whether he has been considering retirement and the lucrative lure of the T20 global circuit, particularly the Major League Cricket start-up in the United States, seems to be tempting the 34-year-old to cash in on the remaining years of his career.
Ponting clearly thinks Smith has plenty more runs up his sleeve if he continues into his late 30s.
The Tasmanian legend retired when he was 37 but conceded he played on too long as his reflexes started to fade.
In his last 29 matches, he scored just three centuries at an average of just 37.19.
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Ricky Ponting. (James Knowler/Getty Images)
“I’ve not quite understood why he hasn’t sort of talked about it,” Ponting said of Smith’s reticence to discuss his potential retirement. “He just doesn’t want to put any finish date on it. I don’t think he looks too far ahead, to be honest.
“He’s so involved in the moment, I think that’s what’s made him one of the all-time greats. He’s all about the next ball first and then the next day and then the next game. He doesn’t get too far ahead of himself.”
Smith’s century means he now has the second-most tons in Ashes Tests, by anyone against England and by foreigners in the UK.
No prizes for guessing who holds each of those three records.
We may never be sure of who’s the Best Since Bradman but we can be certain that no one will ever be better.
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