‘Not sure how long’: Hobbling Smith won’t be around forever

A hobbling Steve Smith looked all of his 33 years when he spoke about the Test century that took him alongside Sir Donald Bradman’s mark of 29 hundreds, and showed little confidence that he would keep playing long enough to pass Ricky Ponting’s tally of 41.

As formidable as Smith looked while dominating the West Indies, his current hip trouble, history of elbow problems and a burgeoning desire to look beyond the game of cricket for things to inspire him are all reminders that he will not be around forever.

International retirement and more time for Smith in his adopted home of New York are more than theoretical possibilities.

“Not really,” Smith admitted when asked about Ponting’s mark as the most prolific centurion on Australian men’s Test cricket. “That’s a long way away. I’m not sure, I’m 33, 34 next year, not sure how long I’ll play for, but we’ll see.

“But 41 is certainly a long way away, there’s a lot of Test matches in the next year for us, so we’ll see how many I can get, can hopefully get a few more in that period of time. We’ll go from there.”

Australia and the world were provided with a reminder of how special Smith’s talent has been when he churned out an unbeaten double century against the West Indies with scarcely a false shot to speak of in 311 balls of total mastery.

Steve Smith on his way to 200 not out against the West Indies in Perth on Thursday.Credit:Getty

“I guess anytime your name is mentioned alongside the Don, it’s pretty special and it’s pretty flattering,” Smith said after the second day of the first Test in Perth.

“It was nice to get a big one today and set us up and put us in a good position. I have felt really good for the last couple of weeks batting and fortunately was able to spend a good time out there yesterday and today.”

It was Smith’s third century in 31 innings of going through what for him was a flat spot, but it was his second ton in three hits after getting rid of his exaggerated shuffle across the crease while on the Sri Lankan tour during the middle of this year.

“I’ve always worked hard and been confident. The reason for my slight change in technique is because I was unhappy with where I was at with my batting,” he said.

“Whilst I was still contributing to the team, I wasn’t probably getting the big runs that I’d like to get. I think now with the way I’m able to play and the way teams have bowled against me, I’ve sort of had to adapt a bit where I’m at with my body and my hands.

“Now I feel like I’m opening up the whole ground as opposed to probably just sort of behind square on the leg side and I’m able to hit the ball in different areas, which I probably wasn’t able to hit previously. So I feel in a good place right now.”

Still struggling with a sore hip created when a stretching exercise went wrong before the Test, Smith believes Australia can force a victory after the West Indies went to stumps at 0-74 in reply to Australia’s 4(dec)-598. Just four wickets fell in the first two days.

“I think the game’s set up really nicely,” Smith said. “I think they played pretty well tonight, the West Indies batters. So tomorrow, I think it’s important that we put a bit of pressure on early and stick to the basics, be really patient and hopefully that’ll get us some good results. But I certainly think a result is on the cards, and I think the cracks will probably come into play a little bit more as the game goes on.”

“There’s a few starting to sort of form. They’re not large at present, but there’s a little bit there. So we’ll see.”

Smith felt the Australians bowled a little too short but the cracks are likely to play a bigger role as the game goes on, as they did against India in the first Test at Perth Stadium four years ago.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.

Most Viewed in Sport

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article