‘Potentially revolutionary’: How ‘ugly duckling’ Smith surpassed Bradman for new Lord’s record

Amid the crisis that befell Australia on the opening morning of the World Test Championship Final at Lord’s, Steve Smith stood out as a beacon of surety set to sail to the rescue again.

No international batsman has fared better than the Australian icon at The home of cricket, with the sloping ground appearing as comfortable to Smith as his bedroom. Given he is battling the flu, it is suspected he was heading straight to bed after stumps.

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Smith did not secure the century Australia desperately hoped for when befuddled by a delivery from part-timer Aiden Markram when out for 66. But he kept Australia in the game before Beau Webster top scored with 72 in a fine debut at the ground.

In doing so, he broke the all-time record for the most runs scored by a visiting batter in Test history at Lord’s when passing legends Sir Don Bradman, Sir Gary Sobers and Warren Bardsley when adding to his rich legacy at the iconic venue.

The Australian No.4s last six innings in the ground at St John’s Wood, he has scored 110, 34, 92, 215, 58 and now 66 at an average of nearly 96.

“It felt good. I found a nice place and I love batting here at Lord’s. I enjoyed my time out there while I was out there and, yeah, I left a few in the shed, unfortunately,” he said.

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Steve Smith of Australia. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

As Australia’s top-order floundered, the No.4 flourished throughout a testing opening session in which the defending champions could manage just 67 runs for the loss of four wickets.

Old wounds die hard and, despite an even split of Australian and South African supporters, the neutral supporters from England tilted the balance of fandom the way of the Proteas.

When Smith walked out to bat, there was booing audible from sections of the crowd still clinging on to the Sandpapergate fiasco from 2017. And it continued through his inning whenever he struck a blow to the boundary against the flow of the match

From the moment Smith got off the mark with a fine four from the bowling of Kagiso Rabada, who had ruined Australia’s morning until then and later delivered the last rites to the lower order, Smith looked a cut above the top order.

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He ran shots down the slope and his shots back up it packed a punch. Smith’s drives were sweetly timed and he was able to pull, cut and ramp as though he was playing on a road, which is remarkable given the Dukes ball niggled and nudged away from batters all day.

Put simply, the concerns that mounted in the 18 months prior to his glorious return to form against India seemed light years ago.

Were his eyes gone? Did he have hunger? Was he a fading force? Those questions can be answered like a mix-up between batters in the middle; “No. Yes. NO!”

Strong through the infancy of his innings, Smith started in smashing fashion after lunch as the sun started to poke through the clouds, plundering 11 runs from Rabada in his first over.

Watching Smith bat will never be a religious experience for purists given his fidgeting and slightly unorthodox technique. But there is more to batting than simply looking stylish and the sound off the bat was sublime on Wednesday.

Former Australian captain Greg Chappell surmises that Smith has rediscovered his best form by learning to let go of the prodigious work ethic that saw him the first into the nets and the last to leave. Sustaining that level of work had left him stilted and struggling for his best form.

“There has been a subtly shifting approach in Smith that is potentially revolutionary,” Chappell wrote in a column for ESPNcricinfo.

“It hints at a maturity that understands the limitations of purely physical effort as one ages, and the growing importance of the mental landscape.

“His conscious decision to relax more, to spend less time in the nets, to allow his mind to wander free is not a sign of diminished ambition but a recognition that preserving mental energy and finding a state of ease is paramount for sustained performance at the highest level.

“He feels he needs to be in the “best space you can be in the middle to bat for long periods” and hitting less in the nets before a series helps keep his mental side as focused as possible when he’s batting in a match. This isn’t laziness; it’s wisdom.

“The most significant gains are to be made not in adding more hours in the nets but in cultivating the inner game, in learning to work with the universe, not against it.”

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The shame for Smith is just when Australia had regained balance in the final, with he and Beau Webster combining for a 79-run partnership, it ended with a juggle.

Smith feathered an edge from Markram past wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, but Marco Jansen was able to juggle the catch with his left and right hand before snaring the wicket.

Hungry for runs? While coughing and spluttering in a press conference after an eventful day, Smith made clear his annoyance at getting out when asked what he could take from his knock when stepping out to bat in his second innings.

“Don’t nick the part-time off spinner, down the slope. I’m still trying to fathom how I’ve done that. So, yeah, don’t do that,” he said.

“And then ... just play what’s in front of us. (The pitch) might take a bit more spin as the game wears on. It’s pretty dry. I think the bounce is going to be variable throughout the game, as we’ve seen already on day one. So (we have to) just play what’s in front of us.

“Hopefully we can get a few early ones in the morning and sort of go through them and have a bit of a lead. That’s the ideal scenario for us right now.”

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