Steven Smith has named Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen as two of his chief verbal tormentors on Australia’s last Ashes tour to England, and is determined to silence any remaining doubters with a pile of runs from No 3 this summer.
Speaking frankly about the treatment he received from England in his earlier years, when he was derided for an idiosyncratic technique among other things, Smith said he hoped he had changed some views by surging up the world rankings to be the No. 1 batsman in the game entering this series.
However it is clear that plenty of scepticism about Smith is still evident in English ranks: the former spin bowler Graeme Swann and current paceman Stuart Broad have spoken publicly about his move to No. 3 being a possible advantage for England, while Pietersen made a point of rating Joe Root a better player of pace and spin in his head-to-head assessment of the two young batsmen.
“I remember Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell getting into me quite a bit,” Smith said of the 2013 tour, when he was goaded by predictions he would be dropped for the home series in Australia until he carved out a century at the Oval. “I don’t think they really rated the way I played. But maybe I’ve changed their views now perhaps a little bit.
“When I came back into that side I’d played two Tests since I’d been back in the side and they were both in India, so it was different conditions coming over here against the Dukes ball. I’d never had any real success against England before, so now they might view me a little bit differently.
Smith rejects any suggestion that his rise to the top of the rankings has come with a reassessment of his batting style.
“People might say my technique’s a little bit different. I don’t see it that way; I think all my fundamentals are all the same. The thing for me is my defence: as long as my defence is in good order then I feel the rest of my game can expand from there. Particularly over here I think your defence is key against the newer ball.”
A key part of Smith’s success in recent times has been a well-developed sense of self-knowledge. He pores over footage of his own methods and has become adept at self-correcting, rather than relying on any coaches or mentors to advise him. In the midst of his current run glut, he was even able to recognise a flaw that crept in during the World Cup and then make an adjustment that kept him ahead of the world’s bowlers.
“I got bowled around my legs in the warm-up game against India in the World Cup in Adelaide,” Smith said. “I was going too far across my stumps. I was taking leg stump guard at that point, I now take about an inch or so outside leg stump, so I’m stepping to where I want to.
“I haven’t looked at it and said ‘this is what I’m looking for’. I don’t think it is ever finished. You want to keep getting better every day. I go back and look at footage quite a bit, make sure I’m doing certain things I want to be doing. I haven’t got to a point where I say ‘this is the perfect way to do things’. “When you’re in good form and hitting the ball well you want to keep playing as much as you can and not have too much of a break. That’s how I think about it mentally. If I have a break I might come back and there may be a few things that aren’t quite right so it’s been nice when I’m on a run of form to continue playing and try to maintain it.”
Perfection may be elusive, but Smith has been getting closer to it than most other batsmen lately. In the hyped-up surroundings of an Ashes series, he said his major priority was to stay true to the routines that have served him so grandly over the past two years – more or less since Bell and Pietersen loved to sledge him.
