Steve Smith - An Ashes Legend within touching distance of mythical numbers
Steven Smith. It’s been 11 months since we have seen one of the greatest batsman in Test Cricket history strut his stuff in the Test arena. By the time the first match of the Ashes rolls up, it will be exactly 325 days. In fact, he has played just 5 tests since 2020 – 1 against New Zealand and 4 against India.
The Ashes will be the start of a 19-test run, as part of the WTC 2 cycle – Featuring Home Tests vs England, West Indies, and South Africa – Away Tests vs India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. We truly hope to see the Master of test match batting in full flow over the upcoming cycle.
Steve Smith loves batting against England. He has the most runs against them (which perhaps is not surprising given Australia play Tests most frequently against England) but also has his 3rd best average (65.12) against them (After West Indies (165.67) and India (72.58))
Steve Smith’s Ashes record
Steve Smith has 2800 runs in 27 Ashes tests at an average of 65.11. He’s 7th on the list of players with most runs in Ashes, and is easily the best record among contemporaries. He needs just 423 runs to leapfrog to the third spot- behind Jack Hobbs and Don Bradman. Among batsmen who have played in the 21st century – There are just 5 names in the Top 20 (S Waugh, S Smith, A Cook, M Clarke, and R Ponting), with only Steve Waugh ahead of Smith (By 373 runs in 18 more tests)
Among batsmen who have scored at least 500 runs in the Ashes, Smith’s average is the 5th best (The best among all batsmen to have featured in the 21st century). He is also one of only four batsmen in history to have 10+ hundreds in Ashes and is just two 100s away from going 2nd on the list – Only behind Don Bradman. He scores these hundreds every 4.36 innings – which is the third best among all players in Ashes – only behind Don Bradman and Chris Broad.
What’s remarkable about Smith’s numbers is that it has been constantly improving, with a tremendous boost in the past two Ashes. His average touched 50 for the first time during his 239 in Perth (December 2017) and has only been reaching stratospheric levels since.
Steve Smith is 32 years old, and under the most modest assumptions, he will play at least 2 more Ashes. If he maintains his current average, he will touch 4000 Ashes runs – Only behind Sir Don Bradman. He needs to score at an average of 47 to overtake Jack Hobbs and become the 2nd most prolific batsman in Ashes.
Steve Smith’s already all-time-great Ashes record is within touching distance of being truly mythical.
Steve Smith vs England’s Bowlers
Smith’s 2019 Ashes was truly legendary. 774 runs in just 4 tests, it was rated the greatest individual batting performance in a series by Cricinfo. Though it seemed like the pace of Wood and Archer got the better of him, he hasn’t been dismissed yet by either of them.
While England’s legendary duo - Stuart Broad and James Anderson - have dismissed him 8 and 6 times respectively, they have done so at 58.4 and 63 runs per wicket. Among the bowlers in the English touring party, the only one to average <50 against Smith is Joe Root. The bowler who troubled Smith the most last time around, Archer, is not in the English squad - out with injury.
The one bowler, in recent memory, to have troubled Smith is Neil Wagner. Bowling his awkward short lines with a leg-heavy field, Wagner had the better of Smith last time Australia met New Zealand. He has the lowest average against left-arm medium pace.England don’t have one in their arsenal, with neither George Garton or Reece Topley having good enough seasons in the Championship to grab a place.
England’s bowling line-up this year is incredibly one dimensional. They have Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Jack Leach, Mark Wood, and Dom Bess. That’s 6 Right arm quicks, one off-spinner and one left-arm spinner. Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood might be looking to crank it up against Smith to unsettle him. But Steve Smith, in general has been scoring at better than his average against England against all the bowler types that England have this year, except for Left-arm spin.
A Phenom in Aussie Wins
9 out of 11 Steve Smith centuries in the Ashes has led to an Aussie win. His average in wins is a grandiloquent 89.23 – only behind Don Bradman’s 111.57 (Among players who have minimum of 5 matches). In draws, he averages a nauseating 104.60, while in losses his average drops down to a mere 23.70.
One common feature among all these figures and charts is how one name keeps coming up in comparison with Smith is the great Sir Don Bradman. And that should tell us all about the Legend of Steve Smith.
Steve Smith has already achieved legendary numbers in the Ashes, and within fewer matches than others. Barring a dreadful run of luck or loss of form, Steve Smith should cross 5 players ahead of him to become the second highest run scorer in Ashes history, by the next Ashes in England. The only record that perhaps is a bit out of reach for him is Don Bradman’s average of 89.78 and 5028 runs. Or is it?
Oh Man. That's some serious numbers from Smudge. I think the 5000 run mark may be a bit of a stretch, but he should easily get to 4000 runs in his career.
The most fascinating number is his average vs bowler types. England truly missed a trick in bringing a left-armer. Can't prepare for one player, but could have been worth a shot